■  I' 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT   LOS  ANGELES 


ORATION 


DELIVERED   BEFORE    THE 


CITY  AUTHORITIES  OF  BOSTON, 


FOUR-TH     OF     JULY,     1866, 


EEV.  S.  K.  LOTHROP,  D.  D. 


TOGETHER  WITH 


Some  Account  of  the  Municipal  Celebration  of  the  Ninetieth  Anniversary 


AMERICAN   INDEPENDENCE. 


BOSTON: 

ALFKED   MUDGE  &  SON,  CITY  PEINTEKS,  34  SCHOOL  STREET. 

18  6  6. 


V&5 


CITY    OF    BOSTON. 


In  Common  Council,  July  5,  1866. 

Resolved  :  That  the  thanks  of  the  City  Council  are  due  and 
they  are  hereby  tendered  to  Rev.  Samuel  K.  Lothrop,  D.  D., 
for  the  eloquent  and  patriotic  Oration  delivered  by  him  before 
the  Municipal  Authorities  of  Boston  on  the  occasion  of  the 
XCth  anniversary  of  the  Declaration  of  American  Independ- 
ence; and  that  he  be  requested  to  furnish  a  copy  of  said 
Oration  for  publication. 

Sent  up  for  concurrence. 

JOHN  C.  HAYNES,  Pres.  pro  tern. 


Concurred. 


In  Board  of  Aldermen,  July  7,  1866. 
G.  W.  MESSINGER,  Chairman. 

Approved  July  7,  1866. 

F.  W.  LINCOLN,  Jr.,  Mayor. 


453410 


ORATION. 


Mr.    Mayor,    Gentlemen   of   the    City    Council,    Friends 
and  Fellow-  Citizens : 

My  words  may  be  dull,  but  the  occasion  has  an 
eloquence  of  its  own;  my  thoughts  may  be  feeble, 
but  the  day  clusters  with  memories,  associations  and 
hopes  that  should  give  it  power  and  make  it  an 
inspiration  to  our  hearts.  Patriotism  is  an  instinct 
of  humanity.  Whether  it  be  amid  the  snows  of  Lap- 
land or  the  arid  deserts  of  Arabia,  wherever,  what- 
ever it  may  be,  barren  or  beautiful,  every  man 
loves  his  country,  and  every  true  man  is  ready  to 
live  and  labor,  to  toil,  sacrifice,  suffer,  and,  if 
need  be,  to  die  for  his  country.  But  we,  of  all 
people,  should  love  our  country;  our  patriotism  has 
so  much  to  sustain  it,  that  it  should  be  not  simply 
an  instinct,  but  a  principle ;  a  deep  conviction  of 
the  judgment  as  well  as  a  warm  emotion  of  the 
heart.     We    have   a   glorious    past,    a    grand   though 

troubled    present,   and    a    future   rich   in   such   hopes 

1* 


6  JULY  4,   1866. 

and  promises  as  never  before  invited  the  energies, 
or  met  the  honest,  pure,  noble  ambition  of  any 
people.  Nay,  our  patriotism  should  find  its  founda- 
tion and  nourishment  in  religious  faith,  —  faith  in 
God,  faith  in  humanity,  and  faith  in  those  great 
principles  of  liberty  and  love,  with  which  Christianity, 
for  eighteen  centuries,  has  been  striving  to  impreg- 
nate the  heart  of  the  world,  and  which,  under  the 
providence  of  God,  have  here  a  grander  opportu- 
nity for  development,  expansion  and  application  than 
was   ever   offered   them  before. 

History  is  the  unfolding  of  God's  thought,  the  de- 
velopment of  his  purpose.  Its  epochs  are  the  foot- 
prints of  the  Almighty  on  the  sands  of  time.  In 
our  land,  and  in  all  that  relates  to  it,  these  foot- 
prints are  so  distinct  and  impressive  that  we  must 
be  infidel  indeed,  if  we  do  not  mark  and  stud} 
them   with   reverence   and   gratitude. 

The  hand  of  God  in  our  country,  the  tokens  of 
his  benignant  purpose  to  protect  and  advance  in  it 
the  interests  of  liberty  and  humanity,  is  a  theme 
for  whose  details  volumes  would  be  required;  the 
few  paragraphs  of  an  oration  can  only  sketch  the 
outline. 

It  begins  with  the  discovery  of  America,  which 
was    so   wonderfully   opportune  in   time,   that   we   no 


OBATION.  7 

longer  ask  why  the  Western  Hemisphere  was  kept 
concealed  for  so  many  ages  from  the  Eastern,  the 
untravelled  waters  of  the  Atlantic  rolling  between 
them.  Had  the  discovery  been  made  a  few  centuries 
earlier,  the  semi-barbarous  institutions  and  feudalism 
of  the  Old  World  would  have  been  transplanted  in 
then*  vigor  to  the  New,  and  social  America  would 
have  been  little  more  than  a  reproduction  of  social 
Europe.  Had  the  discovery  been  delayed  a  few 
centuries,  the  new  ideas  and  principles  in  regard 
to  religious  and  civil  liberty,  government,  society, 
man,  the  Gospel  in  all  its  applications,  which  the 
Reformation  called  forth,  would,  in  all  human  proba- 
bility, have  had  but  a  short-lived,  struggling  exist- 
ence. Confined  to  Europe,  they  would  have  been 
strangled,  crushed,  put  down  and  kept  down  by 
those  influences  of  habit  and  custom,  of  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  power,  which  have  there  opposed  their 
progress,  and  so  long  prevented  then  legitimate  re- 
sults,—  the  enfranchisement  and  elevation  of  humanity. 
Well  may  we  bow  in  adoring  faith  before  that  be- 
neficent Providence,  which  so  ordered  it,  that  just 
when  it  was  most  needed,  when  the  Reformation 
broke  the  slumbers  of  Europe  and  stirred  its  commu- 
nities, as  they  have  never  been  stirred  before,  to 
intense    intellectual,    moral    and    social    activity,    then 


8  JULY  4,    1866. 

this  new  continent,  discovered  less  than  half  a  century 
before,  offered  to  this  activity  a  new  and  fair  field; 
and  the  new  ideas  and  principles,  which  in  Europe, 
overborne  in  the  struggle  with  long  established  insti- 
tutions, and  hereditary  organizations,  forms  and 
usages,  would  here  have  failed  to  work  out  any  grand 
results  upon  a  great  scale,  found  here,  on  the  virgin 
soil  and  comparatively  unoccupied  territory  of  this 
new  world,  an  opportunity  for  untrammelled  devel- 
opment, —  a  development  which  for  more  than  two 
centuries  has  steadily  increased,  giving  impulse  and 
progress  to  humanity,  producing  results  which  form 
one  of  the  grandest  and  most  interesting  chapters  in 
the  history  of  our  race,  and  sending  back  upon  the 
Old  World  influences,  which  have  been  and  will  be 
more   and   more   salutary   and   beneficial. 

If  ever  civil  and  religious  liberty,  —  that  boon 
which  every  man  craves  for  himself  and  every  noble 
man  would  accord  to  others,  —  if  ever  that  great, 
intelligent,  responsible  freedom,  which,  through  the 
gospel  and  the  spirit  of  the  Lord,  comes  to  the 
soul  of  man,  is  to  prevail  over  the  earth,  if  it 
is  ever  to  maintain  a  strong  foothold  among  the 
nations,  it  will  be  because,  at  the  hour  of  its 
utmost  need,  God  gave  it  opportunity  to  plant  itself 
on  this  new   continent,    and   strike  its  roots  so   deep 


ORATION.  b> 

that  no  despotic  power  could  tear  them  up,  no 
storm  of  passion  and  folly  blight  the  blossoms,  or 
destroy   the   fruit   of  the   tree. 

Beginning  thus  with  the  auspicious  time  of  the  dis- 
covery of  our  country,  the  wonderful  workings  of  a 
wise  and  merciful  Providence  may  be  traced  all 
through  the  infancy,  the  growth  and  progress  of  every 
colony  established  therein  from  Maine  to  Georgia. 
In  the  planting  of  the  Plymouth  colony, — where  a 
few  noble  men  and  high-souled  women  stepped  upon 
a  low,  shapeless  rock,  against  which  the  waves  of 
the  Atlantic  had  beaten  for  centuries,  and  the  world 
knew  not  of  it  and  cared  not  for  it,  and  by  their  toils 
and  tears,  their  sufferings  and  sacrifices,  made  that 
rock  to  become  one  of  the  sacred  spots  of  earth, 
hallowed  by  the  noblest  memories  and  grandest  re- 
sults,— there  may  be  more  of  romance,  more  of  thrill- 
ing incident  and  wonderful  achievement,  than  in  that 
of  some  of  the  others;  but  these  elements  so  abound 
in  all,  that,  if  we  have  faith  as  a  grain  of  mustard 
seed,  our  hearts  must  prompt  us  to  recognize  and 
adore  a  divine  purpose  and  providence,  wonderfully 
manifested  in  the  events  connected  with  the  early 
settlement  .and  colonization  of  our  country,  till  we 
come  down  to  that  great  epoch  in  its  history,  of 
which  this   day  is   the   commemoration. 


10  JULY  4,   1866. 

Mr.  Mayor  and  fellow-citizens,  I  need  not  dwell 
upon  the  principles,  nor  recite  the  incidents  of  that 
solemn  and  sublime  struggle  of  our  fathers  for 
independence,  in  the  success  of  which  we  gather 
here  at  this  hour,  citizens  of  this  free  Common- 
wealth, inheritors  in  this  grand  republic.  These 
principles  have  entered  into  the  education  of  our 
people  for  generations.  These  incidents  are  written 
in  our  histories,  taught  in  our  schools,  graven  upon 
our  memories,  familiar  as  household  words  upon  our 
lips.  But  it  was  a  glorious  struggle.  It  was  an 
appeal  to  arms,  to  the  God  of  battles,  as  necessary 
and  as  justifiable  as  it  was  triumphant.  That  was 
not  a  rebellion,  any  of  whose  authors  felt  con- 
strained to  acknowledge,  that  the  government  from 
which  they  would  separate,  and  so  far  overthrow, 
was  the  wisest,  the  best,  the  most  paternal  and 
beneficent  ever  instituted.  That  was  not  a  rebel- 
lion whose  success  was  to  put  limitations  upon 
liberty,  and  give  extension  and  a  deep,  terrible  per- 
manence to  slavery.  That  was  not  a  rebellion 
so  utterly  without  cause,  in  any  grievance  endured, 
or  oppression  exercised,  that  its  instigators  or  authori- 
ties never  made,  and  never  dared  attempt  to  make, 
any  public  proclamation  to  the  world  of  the  wrongs 
they  had  to   redress,  of  the  rights  they  would  vindi- 


OBATION.  11 

cate,  or  of  the  spirit  and  purpose  of  the  new  nation- 
ality they  would  establish.  No,  it  was  not  such 
a  rebellion.  That  grave,  calm,  solemn  document, 
which  our  fathers  put  forth  ninety  years  ago  to-day, 
and  which  has  just  been  so  admirably  read  to  us  this 
morning,  —  that  document,  its  preliminary  utterances, 
rightly  understood  and  interpreted,  not  "  glittering 
generalities,"  but  solid,  substantial  and  everlasting 
verities,  having  their  foundations  in  that  eternal 
justice,  which  is  older  than  all  institutions,  and 
anterior  to  all  governments  save  that  of  God,  —  that 
document,  its  recital  of  facts  so  true  in  letter  and 
spirit,  as  to  defy  refutation  or  denial,  —  that  docu- 
ment, which  at  once  assumed  and  will  forever  hold 
its  place,  as  one  of  the  most  important  historic 
documents  of  the  world,  the  natural  and  legitimate 
child  of  that  Magna  Charta  of  England,  which 
England  violated  and  trampled  upon  when  she 
attempted  to  oppress  and  subject  us,  —  that  docu- 
ment —  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  vindicates 
our  fathers  to  the  judgment,  while  its  successful 
maintenance  secures  to  them  the  admiration  and 
gratitude    of   mankind. 

It  was  a  glorious  struggle,  just  in  its  origin, 
noble  in  its  purpose,  grand  in  its  success,  grander 
because     that     success     was     a     triumph     over     the 


12  JULY  4,    1866. 

prowess  of  England,  —  the  most  signal  defeat  to 
her  power,  the  greatest  loss  to  her  possessions  she 
ever  sustained.  Never,  before  or  since,  have  any  of 
her  colonies  or  territorial  possessions  succeeded  in 
throwing  off  her  yoke.  It  has  been  attempted  in 
India,  in  Canada  and  the  West  Indies,  and  the 
attempts  have  failed.  "Wherever,  in  any  quarter  of 
the  globe,  England  gets  a  foothold,  plants  her 
standard  and  erects  her  forts,  there  she  holds  on 
against  all  intruders  and  against  all  revolt;  and  it 
is  true  to-day  as  of  yore  —  "  her  drum-beat 
follows  the  sun,  and  may  be  heard  all  around 
the  earth."  In  addition  to  her  large  colonial  terri- 
tories, or  in  connection  with  them,  she  holds 
some  of  the  most  important  and  salient  points 
of  the  globe  in  either  hemisphere.  It  is,  and 
has  ever  been  her  policy  to  seek  possession  of  such, 
—  a  policy  which  the  commercial  and  political  inter- 
ests of  this  country,  especially  on  our  Western  coast, 
and  in  the  waters  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  demand  that 
our  government  should  withstand  by  all  just  and 
honorable  means.  Twenty-five  or  thirty  years  ago,  it 
was  supposed  that  ocean  steam  -  navigation  would 
cripple  the  maritime  power  of  England ;  but  it  has 
largely  increased  it,  because  England  alone, — England 
to  a  greater  extent  than  any  other  nation,  —  that  all 


OBATION.  13 

but  omnipresent  power  whose  centre  is  London,  can 
send  her  merchant  or  war -steamers  into  all  the 
waters  of  the  globe,  and  everywhere  coal  at  her 
own  ports,  beneath  the  shadow  of  her  own  nag 
and  the  protection  of  her  own  guns,  —  an  advantage 
she  will  not  fail  to  hold,  to  use  exclusively  for 
herself  when  she  needs,  —  to  extend  when  she  can. 
It  was  a  glorious  struggle,  the  revolutionary  strug- 
gle of  our  fathers,  and  a  signal  defeat  and  loss  to 
power  of  Great  Britain.  But  the  point,  I  wish  to 
make,  is  the  testimony  it  affords  to  a  benign  purpose 
on  the  part  of  the  Divine  Providence  towards  this 
land,  and  the  interests  and  progress  of  humanity  as 
connected  with  it.  In  the  general  aspects  of  the 
struggle,  there  are  three  particulars  worthy  of  especial 
notice  in  this  connection.  First,  the  quick  and  thor- 
ough union  of  the  colonies,  when  the  hour  for  forci- 
ble resistance  arrived,  and  the  stern  appeal  to  arms 
had  to  be  made.  Here  were  thirteen  colonies,  three 
millions  of  people,  —  a  sparse  population,  a  vast 
territory,  with  none  of  the  modern  facilities  for 
personal  intercourse,  the  diffusion  of  information, 
or  for  concert  of  action.  Single,  isolated  rebellion 
on  the  part  of  any  or  all  of  these  colonies  would 
have  been  a  failure.  It  would  have  been  speedily 
crushed.     By  a  wise  foresight  our   fathers   were    led 


14  JULY  I,   1866. 

to  provide  against  this ;  and  suddenly,  through  means 
whose  suggestion  and  efficacy  seem  wonderfully  provi- 
dential, the  thirteen  became  a  unit,  with  a  general 
Congress,  and  Articles  of  Confederation  strong  enough 
to  carry  them  through  as  long  and  severe  a  struggle, 
as   liberty   ever   exacted   of  her   champions. 

This  point  is  important  in  another  aspect.  No  one 
of  these  colonies,  in  the  exercise  of  individual  sover- 
eignty, declared  itself  independent  of  Great  Britain,  or 
undertook  in  its  own  name  to  be,  or  to  set  up  a  new 
nationality  on  the  earth.  As  colonies  they  were 
subject  to  Great  Britain;  as  revolting  colonies  they 
instantly  became  united,  and  within  eight  and  forty 
hours  after  the  first  blow  of  armed  resistance  was 
struck  at  Lexington,  troops  from  more  than  one  of 
these  colonies  were  acting  in  concert  in  the  siege  of 
this  city.  As  colonies  uniting  in  revolt,  they  passed 
into  a  confederacy  of  States,  and  thus  made  to  Eng- 
land and  to  the  world  their  "  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence;" and  from  a  Confederacy  of  States  they  passed 
under  the  Constitution  into  a  Union,  not  of  the  States, 
but  of  the  people: — "We,  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  do  ordain  and  establish  this  Constitution,  which, 
with  the  laws  and  treaties  formed  under  it,  shall  be  the 
supreme  law  of  the  land,  anything  in  any  State  consti- 
tution or  legislation  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding." 


OBATION.  15 

Not  for  an  hour  has  any  one  of  these  States  been 
an  independent  State,  universally  known  and  rec- 
ognized among  the  nations  in  its  exercise  of  the 
rights  of  absolute  sovereignty.  At  first  the  most 
important  of  these  rights  vested  in  Great  Britain ; 
then  they  were  assumed,  I  had  almost  said,  rather 
than  transferred  to  the  Continental  Congress ;  and 
then,  by  a  grand  and  solemn  act  of  the  people,  they 
were  committed  to  a  Federal  or  National  govern- 
ment, under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
The  most  important  right  of  absolute  sovereignty 
these  Colonies  or  States  ever  exercised  was  to  part 
with  that  sovereignty,  and  confer  its  highest  and  most 
essential  attributes  upon  a  central  or  Federal  au- 
thority, that  by  union  that  might  become  great,  re- 
spectable and  strong  before  the  world,  which,  in  its 
separate  parts,  would  remain  insignificant  and  power- 
less. This  seems  to  be  the  historic  fact,  —  that  no 
one  of  these  States  has  ever  been  an  independent, 
absolute  sovereignty,  —  and  this  fact  seems  to  have 
an  important  bearing  upon  that  doctrine  of  "  State 
rights "  and  "  the  sovereignty  of  the  States "  which 
since  1798  has  been  the  bane  of  our  internal  polit- 
ical action.  This  doctrine  was  the  essential  germ  of 
our   recent   civil   war,   whose   fruits,  in   this   instance, 


16  JULY  i,    1866. 

that  war  has  crushed,  but,  as  was  to  be  expected, 
has  not  entirely  eradicated  or  destroyed  the  germ 
itself.  God  forbid  that  it  should  have  life  enough 
to  revive,  and   unfold   into    another   rebellion. 

The  second  signal  feature,  in  the  revolutionary 
struggle  of  our  fathers,  was  their  indomitable  .energy 
and  perseverance,  amid  tremendous  discouragements, 
at  a  cost  of  large  sacrifices,  painful  sufferings  and 
privations.  Here  I  will  not  detain  you  with  details, 
nor  attempt  to  give  you  pictures  of  that,  which  has 
so  often  been  portrayed  by  the  masters  of  patriotic 
eloquence.  We  all  know,  that  upon  any  compari- 
son of  means,  men,  money,  munitions  and  instru- 
mentalities of  war  of  all  kinds,  the  struggle  seemed 
hopeless  at  the  beginning ;  and  often  and  often,  at 
the  end  of  many  a  campaign  during  those  seven  long 
years,  the  fortunes  of  our  fathers  seemed  dark  and 
utterly  desperate.  But  they  did  not  and  would  not 
give  it  up  ;  their  enthusiasm  kindled  afresh  after 
every  disaster  and  defeat;  their  small  resources,  often 
apparently  exhausted,  failed  not  to  offer  fresh  sup- 
plies when  called  for;  their  bold  confronting,  year 
after  year,  all  the  power  and  policy  of  England, 
reached  at  last  that  sublime,  unselfish,  indomitable, 
moral  heroism,  which  always  conquers  because  it  must 


OB  ATI  ON.  17 

conquer,  and  which  at  length  compelled  England  to 
acknowledge  that  the  brightest  jewel  of  her  crown 
was  gone,  and  that  these  United  States  were  a 
power   no   longer   subject   to   her   control. 

How  shall  I  speak  of  the  third  signal  and  pro- 
vidential feature  in  that  great  revolutionary  strug- 
gle of  our  fathers'?  —  their  great  Leader,  wonderful 
beyond  all  comparison  in  the  intellectual  and  moral 
combinations  that  formed  his  character,  the  Providen- 
tial Man,  raised  up  to  carry  them  forward  through 
transcendent  difficulties  to  a  grand  success,  and  adorn 
then  records  with  the  most  glorious  and  unspotted 
name  in  all  human  history.  Niagara  stands  alone, 
unrivalled  among  the  cataracts  of  earth,  and  man 
might  as  well  attempt  to  create  it,  as  by  pen  or 
pencil  to  give  an  adequate  description  or  impression 
of  it.  Thus  Washington  stands  so  unrivalled  in  the 
combinations  of  his  life,  character  and  career  —  as 
fortunate  as  he  was  great,  and  as  good  as  he  was 
great  and  fortunate  —  that  one  might  as  well  under- 
take to  create  as  to  describe  him.  I  shall  not 
attempt  it;  but  this  I  may  say,  that  the  more  I 
read  history,  the  more  I  study  biography,  the 
more  I  contemplate  human  nature,  and  aim  to  form 
correct  moral  estimates  of  men,  the  more  the  char- 
acter  of  Washington,    hi   its   glorious   beauty,  in   the 

2* 


18  JULY  4,   1866. 

august  sublimity  of  its  splendid  combinations,  looms  up 
before  my  imagination,  my  feelings  and  my  judgment, 
as  the  grandest  to  be  found  in  the  authentic  records 
of  our  race,  save  those  records,  short  and  simple, 
that  contain  the  glorious  gospel  of  the  Son  of  God. 

Does  any  one  maintain  that  in  the  raising  up  of 
such  a  man,  to  be  the  leader  of  our  fathers  in 
their  revolutionary  struggle,  to  be  the  model,  guide, 
and  inspiration  in  all  coming  time,  to  the  new 
development  and  progress,  which  humanity  is 
to  make  on  this  continent,  he  sees  nothing  won- 
derfully providential;  that  in  all  this  struggle,  he 
finds  no  special  token  of  a  benignant  purpose  of 
the  Almighty,  in  regard  to  the  interests  of  liberty 
and  humanity  in  this  land,  I  can  only  answer, 
that  I  envy  not  the  coldness  or  the  scepti- 
cism of  his  heart,  which  seems  be  wanting  in 
the  great  element  of  faith,  —  faith  in  the  invisible, 
the  spiritual  and  the  eternal,  which  has  ever  been 
one  of  the  noblest  attributes  of  the  noblest  minds. 
Most  persons  will  recognize,  and  delight  to  recognize, 
the  hand  of  God  in  that  glorious  Revolutionary 
struggle  of  our  fathers,  whose  importance  can  never 
diminish,  and  the  memory  of  which  can  never  die. 
It  was  the  first  stern  conflict  between  the  despotism 
of   the    Old    World    and    the    liberty    of   the    New. 


OBATION.  19 

In  that  conflict  liberty  triumphed,  lifting  up  our 
country  "  from  impending  servitude  to  acknowledged 
independence ; "  and  that  triumph  should  stand  before 
us  to-day  as  "  the  Lord's  doing,  marvellous  in  our 
eyes,"  a  testimony  to  his  gracious  purpose  to  pro- 
mote the  interests  and  progress  of  humanity  in  our 
land,    and   throughout   the   world. 

And  that  testimony  abides ;  it  abounds  all  through 
the  record  of  our  wonderful  prosperity  and  progress, 
since  the  conclusion  of  that  struggle.  The  formation 
and  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  afford  an  impressive  illustration  of  this.  All 
human  instruments  have  something  of  weakness  and 
defect,  stamping  their  origin.  It  is  easier  to 
destroy  than  to  create,  to  find  fault  than  to  make 
perfect ;  and  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
never  has  been,  is  not  now,  never  will,  be  beyond 
the  reach  of  objection.  But  when  we  calmly  review 
the  state  of  the  country,  after  the  close  of  the 
war  of  independence;  when  we  contemplate  all  the 
circumstances  of  the  times,  the  necessities  that  re- 
quired, and  the  obstacles  that  stood  in  the  way  of  a 
stronger  government  than  the  old  confederacy,  all 
the  diverse  rights,  interests,  opinions,  prejudices, 
that  had  to  be  harmonized ;  then  the  Constitution 
stands    before    us    wonderful    in    its    penetrating    and 


20  JULY  4,    1866. 

comprehensive  sagacity,  its  all-embracing  political 
wisdom ;  an  instrument  of  civil  organization  and 
government  so  perfect,  that  could  there  always 
have  been  found  an  integrity  adequate  to  its 
just,  dispassionate  and  impartial  administration,  it 
would,  of  necessity,  have  made  the  people  living 
under  it  as  happy  and  prosperous  as  the  limitations 
of  earth   permit. 

Wonderful  in  its  formation,  its  adoption  ulti- 
mately by  the  people  of  all  the  States,  so  different 
in  character  and  population,  and  so  widely  sev- 
ered, is  even  more  wonderful  than  its  formation ; 
and  when  we  look  at  the  great  general  results 
produced  by  this  Constitution,  observe  how  imme- 
diately it  brought  prosperity  and  power,  raised  our 
country  from  a  feeble  to  a  mighty  nation,  gave  it 
a  name  and  an  influence  over  all  the  earth;  when 
we  consider  how  it  has  conferred  upon  many  millions 
of  people  such  blessings,  comforts,  privileges,  oppor- 
tunities, as  no  government  ever  conferred  before 
upon  a  like  number,  making  our  land  such  an 
"  oasis  in  the  desert "  of  the  world,  that  for  half 
a  century  past,  emigrants  from  other  countries  have 
thronged  to  it,  as  they  never  thronged  to  any  land 
before;  finding  here  a  security,  a  happiness,  and  an 
opportunity   they   could    find   nowhere   else   on   earth, 


ORATION.  21 

—  when  we  consider  these  things,  the  formation 
and  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  are  events  so  wonderful,  so  extraordinary 
upon  any  calculation  of  human  probabilities,  that 
we  are  justified,  nay,  constrained  to  regard  them  as 
such  an  overruling  of  Providence,  such  tokens  of 
a  benignant  protection  of  liberty  in  this  land,  that 
they  should  not  only  quicken  and  invigorate  our 
patriotism,  but  give  to  it  something  of  the  sanctity 
and    power    of    religious    faith. 

But  all  will  admit,  probably,  that  the  most  impres- 
sive evidence  and  exhibition  of  an  overruling  Provi- 
dence, in  the  history  of  our  country,  is  its  present 
condition,  and  the  terrible  scenes  and  the  great 
crisis,  through  which  we  have  just  passed  in  our 
recent   civil   war. 

The  origin  and  responsibility  of  this  war  rest  not 
exclusively  with  the  men  of  this  generation.  At  long 
intervals,  years  ago,  the  differing  seeds  from  which 
it  sprung  were  planted.  The  first  planting  was  at 
Plymouth  in  1620,  when  our  fathers  made  there 
the  first  permanent  lodgement  of  liberty  in  the  land. 
The  second,  by  a  singular  coincidence,  was  in  the 
same  year,  when  a  Dutch  man-of-war  entered  James 
River,  with  some  Africans  on  board  who  were  sold 
as    slaves,    and    thus,   in   Virginia,   the    first   germ   of 


22  JULY  4,   1866. 

Slavery  took  root  on  Anglo-American  soil.  The  third 
planting  was  in  1776,  when  a  committee  of  the 
Continental  Congress  at  Philadelphia,  with  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson at  its  head,  made  that  grand  declaration,  that 
"  all  men  "  —  "  all "  —  had  certain  inalienable  rights, 
of  which  no  government  could  innocently  deprive 
them.  The  fourth  and  last  planting  was  in  1787, 
when  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  that 
instrument,  so  glorious  in  other  respects,  under- 
took, in  singular  inconsistency  with  its  Preamble, 
to  join  together,  in  peaceful  fellowship,  under 
one  government,  Liberty  and  Slavery.  The  thing 
was  impossible;  and  in  this  particular,  though 
not  in  its  general  spirit  and  purpose,  the  Con- 
stitution  was   a  failure. 

A  conflict  between  Liberty  and  Slavery  existing 
under  one  government,  among  one  people,  was  inevi- 
table, "  irrepressible."  It  begun  early,  it  lasted  long. 
It  may  be  traced  all  through  our  national  legislation 
and  policy;  and  in  the  legislation  of  the  last  twenty 
years,  there  are  so  many,  and  such  violent  and  wan- 
ton encroachments  of  Slavery  upon  Liberty,  that  one 
is  almost  tempted  to  think,  (though  no  positive  proof 
thereof  in  letters  or  speeches  could  be  found,)  that 
the  hope,  if  not  the  purpose  and  policy  of  the  lead- 
ers and  advocates  of  Slavery,  was  to  goad  and  drive 


OEATION.  23 

the  North  to  the  initiation  of  rebellion,  that  thus 
they  might  place  themselves  before  the  world,  in  the 
light  of  loyal  defenders  of  an  existing  Government 
and  Constitution. 

Though  not  disposed  to  uphold  or  approve  all 
that  was  said  and  done  at  the  North,  I  am  disposed 
to  maintain  that  the  admission  of  Texas,  by  a 
gross  and  palpable  violation  of  constitutional  pro- 
visions ;  the  Mexican  war,  unnecessarily  precipitated 
upon  the  country  by  an  invasion  of  territory  of  which, 
to  say  the  least,  it  was  doubtful  whether  it  belonged 
to  Texas,  and  the  consequent  acquisition  of  large  addi- 
tions to  the  area  of  slavery ;  some  of  the  odious 
and  arbitrary  features  unnecessarily  introduced  into 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Bill;  the  miserably  contemptible, 
as  well  as  wicked  legislation  hi  regard  to  Kansas, 
and  finally  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise, — 
that  these  were  such  violations  and  encroachments 
upon  the  rights,  interests  and  progress  of  liberty  on 
this  Continent,  as,  combined,  afforded  to  the  free 
States  a  more  justifiable  cause  for  revolt,  rebellion, 
revolution,  than  the  so-called  Confederate  States  can 
ever  declare  and  mak^  good  before  the  world. 

But  the  people  of  the  free  States  would  not  rebel. 
They  felt  that  under  a  popular  representative  gov- 
ernment, where    the    will    of   the  people,  legitimately 


24  JULY  4,   1866. 

expressed,  is  the  controlling  force  that  ultimately 
accomplishes  all  that  ought  to  be  done,  armed 
resistance  is  almost  never  necessary  or  justifiable. 
Liberty,  also,  which  loves  order  and  obeys  law  to 
the  utmost,  was  willing  to  bide  its  time,  and  trust 
its  existence  and  progress  to  the  irresistible  logic  of 
truth  and  principle.  This  logic  prevailed  more  and 
more,  till  at  length  the  Republican  party  was  or- 
ganized. According  to  its  original  platforms,  this 
party  did  not  propose  to  disturb  slavery  where  it 
existed,  but  simply  to  restrict  its  power  and  preva- 
lence to  the  limits  it  had  already  reached,  —  limits 
whose  resources  it  had  not  exhausted,  but  where, 
as  an  industrial  institution,  it  still  had  room  for  an 
indefinite   expansion. 

This  party,  after  one  or  two  defeats,  triumphed 
in  the  national  election  of  1860,  and  raised  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  to  the  chief  magistracy  of  the  nation. 
I  need  not  attempt  the  eulogy  of  this  man's 
character  or  career.  At  the  instance  of  our 
City  Government,  this  has  already  been  done  by 
abler  hands  than  mine.  That  he  was  a  person  of 
peculiar  talents,  admirable  wisdom,  perfect  honesty, 
and  pure,  disinterested  purpose,  will,  I  presume,  be 
admitted  by  all.  The  growing  developments  of  his 
personal  character  while   in  office,  his   public  policy 


OBATION.  25 

under  circumstances  of  as  deep  perplexity,  painful 
anxiety,  and  involving  issues  of  as  gigantic  impor- 
tance as  ever  embarrassed  the  head  of  any  nation, 
and  his  untimely  death  at  the  hand  of  violence, 
making  him  at  once  the  champion  and  the  martyr 
of  liberty,  these  invest  his  name  and  fame  with 
such  attributes  of  gloom  and  glory,  that  we  become 
at  once  sad  and  reverent  as  we  speak  of  him. 
There  can  be  little  doubt  that  as  years  roll  on, 
dissipating  the  mists  of  passion,  and  leading  to  a 
clearer  appreciation,  the  historic  judgment  of  the 
nation  and  of  the  world  will  lift  him  up  to  a 
high  place  among  the  providential  men  of  the  race; 
will  place  him  near  to  Washington,  as  the  second 
deliverer  and  Father  of  his  country,  —  less  fortunate 
in  his  personal  fate,  but  thoroughly  wise,  honest,  disin- 
terested, patriotic,  worthy  of  our  gratitude  and  our 
reverence. 

His  election  was  the  signal  for  the  weak  work 
of  secession,  and  the  wicked  work  of  rebellion  and 
revolution,  to  begin.  This  work,  in  its  successive 
steps,  in  its  widening  progress,  in  its  final  issue, 
abounds  with  testimonies  to  the  purpose  of  the 
Almighty  Providence  to  protect  and  advance  the 
interests  of  liberty  and  humanity  in  our  country,  and 
thereby   throughout    the    world.      The    very   neglects 


26  JULY  i,   1866. 

which  we  condemned,  the  very  misfortunes  and  de- 
feats, which  five  years  ago  we  regretted,  have  all 
contributed  to  fulfil  this    purpose. 

There  can  be  no  question  that  during  the  summer 
and  autumn  of  1860,  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  with  the  mutterings  of  the  coming  storm  in 
his  ears,  and  the  shadow  of  its  dark  cloud  resting 
upon  the  close  of  his  administration,  had  he  listened 
to  the  suggestions  of  the  late  Lieutenant- General, 
Winfield  Scott,  —  that  glorious  old  soldier,  as  wise 
and  patriotic  as  he  was  brave, — might  have  quietly 
put  all  the  forts  on  the  Southern  coast  in  such  condi- 
tion, and  so  disposed  of  the  military  and  naval 
force  of  the  United  States,  that  secession,  like  nul- 
lification, would  have  reached  only  to  a  paper 
ordinance,  perhaps  not  to  that,  and  armed  rebellion 
would   never   have   raised   its   bloody   hand. 

If  England  in  the  spring  of  1861,  instead  of  being 
swift  through  her  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs  to 
speak  of  the  "  late  "  United  States,  and  grant  bellig- 
erent rights  to  the  rebels,  and  thus  encourage  her 
people  to  furnish  them  with  munitions  of  war  and 
supplies  of  all  kinds,  had,  true  to  her  interest  and 
honor,  as  well  as  her  professed  abhorrence  of  slavery, 
expressed  her  sympathy  with  the  constitutional  gov- 
ernment  of   the    United    States,   and    her    determina- 


OBATION.  27 

tion  to  stand  by  it  in  the  struggle,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  resources  of  the  so-called  Confederacy 
would  have   been   exhausted   at   a   very   early   day. 

And  if,  in  that  first  great  battle  of  the  conflict  at 
Bull  Eun,  in  July  1861,  the  Union  arms  had  con- 
quered, and  we  had  driven  the  rebels  back  to  Rich- 
mond, or  beyond  it, .  to  the  selection  of  some  other 
spot  to  be  its  temporary  capital,  probably  hundreds 
and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  persons  in  the  South- 
ern States,  who  up  to  that  hour  had  hesitated 
between  rebellion  and  loyalty,  would  have  decided  in 
favor  of  the  latter,  and  the  Union  sentiment  at  the 
South,  feeling  secure  of  protection,  would  have  de- 
clared itself  so  strongly,  that  the  rebellion  and  its 
confederacy  would  have  collapsed  before  the  expira- 
tion   of   its   first    year. 

But  this  immediate  or  early  suppression  of  the 
rebellion  would  have  left  the  nation  just  where  it 
was  before,  —  the  cause  of  strife  unremoved,  una- 
bated; it  would  have  stanched  the  blood,  salved 
over  the  wound,  but  left  the  virus  within  to  poison 
the  system,  to  work  disease  and  decay,  to  bring  on, 
at  some  other  time,  in  some  other  form,  another 
death-struggle  for  national  liberty  and  life.  He,  who 
presideth  over   the  nations,  had  a  broader  and   more 


28  JULY  i,   1866. 

benignant  purpose,  and  His  overruling  is  legibly 
written   upon   the   whole   course   of  the    conflict. 

This  conflict,  —  initiated  by  the  rebel  leaders  for  an 
independent  confederacy,  that  should  give  permanence 
and  power  to  slavery,  and  entered  into  by  the 
government  of  the  United  States  after  patient  reluc- 
tance, originally  not  to  disturb  slavery,  but  to  main- 
tain its  own  authority  over  a  territory  and  people, 
who  had  no  sufficient  cause  for  revolt,  and  whose 
obedient  allegiance  it  might  rightfully  claim,  — 
this  conflict  went  on,  widening  the  range  of  its 
operations,  unfolding  more  and  more  distinctly  the 
good  and  evil  principles,  the  sources  of  weakness 
and  of  strength  involved  in  it,  and  presenting 
more  and  more  clearly,  also,  the  issues  that 
must  be  reached  in  order  to  a  permanent  peace  ; 
till  at  length  the  way  was  prepared,  opportunity 
came,  necessity  demanded,  and  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  in  the  exercise  of  that  august  war- 
power  which  the  Constitution  lodged  in  his  hands, 
with  all  due  qualifications  and  formalities,  made  the 
proclamation  emancipating  all  the  slaves  in  the  rebel 
States. 

This  important  measure  was  at  first  received 
with   regret   and   surprise  by  some;  but  it   is  now,  I 


OBATION.  29 

believe,  everywhere,  at  home  and  abroad,  by  every 
thoughtful  person,  regarded  as  just  and  wise ;  officially 
a  right,  and  morally  a  brave  and  noble  act.  To  have 
made  that  proclamation  earlier  would  have  been  a 
mistake  ;  to  have  delayed  it  longer  would  have  been 
a  crime, —  a  crime  against  the  Union  whose  preserva- 
tion demanded,  whose  Constitution  authorized  it,  —  a 
crime  against  liberty  and  humanity  which  so  earn- 
estly plead  for  it.  Followed  as  it  soon  was  by  the 
enlistment  of  colored  troops,  and  by  amendments  of 
the  Constitution  abolishing  slavery,  legitimately  passed 
by  Congress  and  adopted  by  the  required  number 
of  States,  this  proclamation  may  now  be  regarded 
as  the  thunder-bolt,  beneath  which  the  rebel  confed- 
eracy staggered  to  its  fall,  while  to  us,  like  the 
fiery  column  to  the  Israelites  of  old,  it  was  "  a 
burning  and  a  shining  light,"  beneath  whose  guiding 
glow  the  Union,  victorious  at  every  point  through 
its  moral  as  well  as  physical  strength,  with  erect 
mien  and  manly  confidence,  walked  forward  to  a 
triumphant   peace,   to    glory   and   permanence. 

Mr.  Mayor  and  fellow-citizens :  Distance  is  said 
to  lend  enchantment  to  the  view,  but  it  is  also 
necessary  to  give  correctness  to  the  vision ;  we  are 
too  near  to  our  late  civil  war  to  judge  of  it  cor- 
rectly in  all  its  events  and  proportions.     In  five  years 

3* 


30  JULY  4,   1866. 

we  have  msde  a  history  which,  only  at  the  close 
of  fifty  years,  can  be  so  fully  and  accurately  written, 
as  to  be  in  all  particulars  thoroughly  understood 
and    justly    appreciated. 

But    there   are    some   facts  and   principles   in   rela- 
tion   to    it    that   we    can    understand,    and    they   are 
worthy   of    a    moment's    notice.     It   was  at   once   the 
most     gigantic      civil     war     on     record,  —  and     the 
shortest.      The    Peloponnesian    war    was    virtually    a 
civil  war,   corresponding  in  some  particulars    to    ours. 
The     States     of     Greece,    represented     in    the    Am- 
phictyonic    council,    were   bound   together   by   various 
ties    of    nationality,    which    would   have    been    closer 
and    stronger,    save    that    an    idea,    expressed   by    a 
different    word     but     similar    to    our    idea     of     State 
sovereignty,  kept   them   apart   and   led    to   their  ruin, 
through  a   war   which,  interrupted   by   a   short   truce, 
lasted    twenty-seven    years.     This   war   was  important 
in   its    influence    upon   the    fortunes  of    Greece,    and 
upon    the    civilization    and    progress    of    the    world; 
but  in  itself  it  was  confined   to   a  territory  not  much 
larger  than  one  of  our  large  States ;  and  the  greatest 
number,    which    either    side    ever    brought    into    the 
field  in  any  one   campaign,  was   sixty   thousand  men, 
and  never  in  any  one  battle   were   so  many  as  these 
engaged  on   one   side. 


OBATION.  31 

The  great  civil  war,  under  various  leaders  with 
mingled  fortunes,  through  which  Rome  passed  from 
a  Republic  to  an  Empire,  lasted  twenty  years.  In 
the  first  great  battle  of  this  struggle,  at  Pharsalia, 
between  Caesar  and  Pompey,  the  whole  number  in 
both  armies,  very  unequally  divided,  did  not  reach 
to  eighty  thousand  men;  and  in  its  last,  at  Actium, 
between  Anthony  and  Octavius  Caesar,  though  about 
one  hundred  thousand  men  were  assembled  on  either 
side,  only  a  very  small  portion  of  these  were  actually 
brought  into  the  conflict.  The  Roman  Empire  at 
this  time  contained  three  times  the  population  of 
the  United  States ;  yet  the  great  military  captain, 
Julius  Caesar,  who  for  a  brief  period  was  master 
of  it,  never  commanded  in  person,  at  one  point,  so 
many  men  as  were  in  some  of  our  army  corps. 
The  glorious  civil  war  in  England,  known  as  the 
"  Great  Rebellion,"  by  which  free  constitutional  gov- 
ernment became  the  boon  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race 
everywhere,  lasted  seven  years  ;  yet  the  largest  army 
that  either  King  or  Parliament  had  in  the  field 
during  this  struggle  did  not  exceed  twenty-five  thou- 
sand men.  Cromwell's  broad  fame,  as  a  military 
commander,  rests  upon  a  few  battles  and  campaigns, 
conducted  in  a  comparatively  small  area  of  territory, 
and  with   a   force  seldom  exceeding  twenty  thousand 


32  JULY  4,   1866. 

men,  —  about  as  many  as  served  for  Sherman's  ad- 
vance-guard of  "  bummers "  in  his  grand  march 
through  Georgia  and  the  Carolinas.  The  combined 
armies  of  Caesar  and  Pompey,  disputing  the  empire 
of  the  world,  were  less  than  the  quota  which  some 
of  our  large  States  sent  into  the  field  in  our  re- 
cent struggle;  and  this  little  State  of  Massachusetts 
furnished  more  troops  than  Julius  Caesar  ever  com- 
manded, more  than  all  Greece  brought  together  in 
the  long  struggle  that  rent  her  in  pieces ;  more  than 
fought  on  both  sides  in  the  great  English  Rebellion. 
And  what  is  the  explanation  of  this  contrast  1 
Simply  this,  I  conceive.  Ours  was  a  war  of  the 
people  and  for  the  people,  their  liberties  and  their 
progress  against  an  oligarchy.  Even  the  English 
Rebellion,  though  liberty  was  promoted  by  it,  was 
in  a  great  measure  a  war  of  oligarchies,  a  struggle 
between  titled  and  un-titled  land  owners,  for  place 
and  power ;  and  the  great  civil  wars  of  the  Roman 
triumvirates  were  wars  between  oligarchies,  struggles 
between  patrician  leaders,  who  could  gather  no  more 
troops  than  they  could  pay  by  plunder,  confiscation 
and  robbery.  The  long  and  fatal  contest  in  Greece 
was  between  patrician  leaders  and  States,  some  of 
whom,  Athens,  for  instance,  had  only  sixty  thousand 
freemen    from    whom    to    enlist    her    soldiers,    while 


OB  AT  I  OX.  33 

she  had  four  hundred  thousand  slaves,  whom  she 
did  not  dare  to  arm  for  the  contest.  Ours,  on 
the  contrary,  was  a  war  of  and  for  the  people. 
Not  a  war  which  the  government  constrained  the 
people  to  wage  and  support,  but  one  which  the 
people  constrained  the  government  to  wage  for  its 
own  protection  and  their  liberties,  in  behalf  of  a 
country  which  they  loved,  and  of  institutions  and 
principles  which  they  cherished  with  national  pride 
and  filial  reverence.  Hence  when  the  call  came, 
they  sprang  to  arms  by  the  half-million,  gloried  in 
what  may  be  called  a  self-imposed  taxation,  and 
poured  out  their  blood  and  treasure  without  stint, 
and  thus  made  it  at  once  the  most  gigantic  and 
shortest   civil   war   on   record. 

We  can  understand  that  it  was  a  war  of  conflicting 
ideas  and  principles,  which  in  its  progress  unfolded 
more  and  more  the  character  of  these  principles, 
their  healthful  or  baneful  influence  upon  the  mind 
and  heart  of  man.  It  was  a  war  between  Liberty 
and  Slavery,  the  records  of  which  are  full  of  dis- 
closures, which  tell  in  behalf  of  liberty  as  a  grand 
ennobling  principle,  and  put  a  darker  and  deeper 
shadow    upon    slavery  as   barbarous    and    brutalizing. 

All  war  is  bad,  subjecting  men  to  such  evil 
influences,  that  nothing  but  stern  necessity  could  lead 


34  JULY  4,   1866. 

a  thoughtful  man  to  uphold  it;  and  I  do  not  intend 
to  urge  that  all  that  the  government,  troops,  people 
and  press  of  the  North  did  and  said,  during  our  recent 
struggle,  is  to  be  unqualifiedly  approved.  Undoubt- 
edly there  are  things  that  we  must  regret  and  con- 
demn. Nor  do  I  mean  to  say  that  there  is  nothing, 
absolutely  nothing,  in  the  rebel  record  that  we  can 
approve  ;  no  acts  of  courtesy,  or  nobleness,  or  mag- 
nanimity, such  as  call  forth  our  admiration  even 
for  a  foe.  Undoubtedly  there  are  many  such.  But 
there  is  nothing  in  our  record  of  which  we  need 
be  ashamed ;  while  there  are  things  in  rebel  record 
which  the  world  will-  forever  condemn.  There 
is  nothing  in  our  record  like  Belle  Isle,  the  Libby, 
Andersonville,  Salisbury,  Fort  Pillow,  or  Fort  Wag- 
ner ;  nothing  like  the  attempt  to  fire  Northern 
cities  and  bring  indiscriminate  suffering,  destruc- 
tion of  property,  poverty,  death,  upon  men,  women 
and  children  ;  nothing  which  gives  the  shadow 
of  a  shade  of  color  for  such  a  charge  against 
any  one,  as  that  which  the  President  of  the  United 
States  has  ventured  to  bring  against  the  head  of 
the  late  Confederate  Government,  -«-  complicity  with 
assassination  and  murder. 

Our   record   is    a  glorious   record  in  behalf  of  the 
nature,    character,    and   influences    of    liberty, — glori- 


OB  AT  ION.  35 

ous  in  the  reluctance  with  which  the  National 
Government  unsheathed  the  sword  of  war,  and 
in  the  spirit  in  which  she  used  it,  —  glorious 
in  the  skill  and  military  genius  displayed  by 
our  generals,  and  in  the  bravery,  the  sacrifices 
and  the  patriotic  devotedness  of  our  troops,  and 
in  their  general  character  and  conduct  as  men  as 
well  as  soldiers,  —  glorious  in  the  general  spirit  and 
action  of  our  people,  in  their  Sanitary  Commissions, 
their  Christian  Commissions,  their  Freedmen's  Relief 
Associations,  in  all  the  noble  efforts  of  the  women 
of  the  country,  and  in  the  thousand  Florence 
Nightingales,  who,  without  the  meed  of  world-wide 
fame  and  honor,  humbly,  quietly,  in  the  self-sacri- 
ficing spirit  of  a  loyal  patriotism  and  a  womanly 
tenderness,  went  forth  to  instruct  the  ignorant  in 
schools,  to  nurse  the  sick  and  comfort  the  dying 
in  hospitals.  Ours  is  a  glorious  record  ;  and  not 
denying  any  thing  there  may  be  good  and  glorious 
in  the  record  of  the  Confederacy,  so  called,  the 
two  records,  taken  as  a  whole,  hold  up  to  us  two 
forms,  two  portraits,  drawn,  as  it  were,  by  an 
almighty  artist,  in  living  lineaments,  —  one  Liberty, 
an  angel  of  light  to  benefit  and  bless,  —  the  other 
Slavery,  a  demon  of  wrath  to  curse  and  destroy, 
not    so    much    those    upon    whom    she     fastens    her 


36  JULY  4,   1866. 

fetters,  as  those  to  whom  she  grants  her  privileges 
and   her   power. 

The  nation  and  the  world  needed  these  por- 
traits. They  will  be  studied  long  and  much  ;  their 
instruction  will  be  heeded,  and  their  influence  felt, 
for  many  centuries.  The  war  was  a  conflict  of 
principles  ;  and  the  whole  exhibition  of  the  con- 
flict and  its  results  seem  so  clear  and  immediate  a 
revelation  of  the  divine  will  and  law  in  regard  to 
slavery,  as  to  make  it  absurd  to  appeal  to  one  or 
two  obscure  passages  in  the  Bible,  written  in  the 
infancy  of  the  world,  and  insist  that  these  are  to 
be  interpreted  to  the  support  of  slavery  as  a  divine 
institution,  a  declaration  of  God's  eternal  purpose, 
that  a  portion  of  his  creatures  should  forever  re- 
main  in   that   unhappy    condition. 

We  can  form  some  conceptions  of  the  misery 
and  ruin  from  which  this  war,  successfully  prose- 
cuted to  the  preservation  of  the  Union,  has  saved 
us.  These  conceptions  will  be  more  vivid,  if  we 
call  to  mind,  for  a  moment,  the  fate  of  the  Greek 
republics.  At  the  time  of  the  breaking  out  of  the 
great  civil  war  between  them,  these  republics  had 
reached  the  summit  of  their  glory.  Pericles  had 
conceived  the  grand  idea  of  forming  them  into  a 
federal   union   something    like    ours,   under   one   gen- 


OBATION.  37 

eral  government  and  a  common  capital.  Had  he 
succeeded,  the  fate  of  Greece  and  the  story  of  the 
world  for  centuries  would  have  been  different  ; 
but  he  failed.  The  selfish  and  ambitious,  the  men 
of  ordinary  talents,  but  eager  for  power,  felt  that 
they  would  lose  influence  and  position  in  a  united 
Greece  ;  and  so  the  miserable  idea  of  petty  state 
sovereignties  prevailed.  Instead  of  forming  a  union 
that  would  have  been  for  the  strength,  the  glory 
and  the  preservation  of  all,  these  republics  rushed 
into  a  war,  which  ended  in  the  exhaustion  and 
ruin  of  all.  Our  union  had  already  been  formed 
under  a  nobler  than  Pericles  ;  and  the  object,  the 
attempt  of  the  war  was  to  break  it  up.  Once 
broken,  the  two  fragments  would  not  long  have 
remained   entire. 

The  very  idea  upon  which  many  southern  men, 
particularly  those  who  were  in  the  army  and  navy, 
undertake  to  defend  their  treason,  viz.,  that  their 
State  claimed  and  had  a  right  to  their  first  alle- 
giance, would  have  compelled  them  to  resist  the 
central  despotism,  by  which  alone  the  Confederacy 
could  have  been  held  together,  when  once  it  became 
independent  ;  so  that  soon  the  States  that  were  to 
compose  it  would  have  been  fighting  among  them- 
selves.      The    northern    republic,   the    glory   of    the 

4534 1() 


38  JULY  4,    1866. 

old  Union  gone,  its  grand  inspiration  no  longer  a 
power  in  the  heart,  would  soon  probably  have  be- 
come a  prey  to  internal  dissensions,  and  so  all 
over  the  land  there  would  have  been  wars  and 
fightings,  confusion  and  disaster  ;  and  these  would 
have  continued  and  increased  till  exhaustion  came, 
and  by  the  close  of  half  a  century,  some  new 
Philip  of  Macedon,  as  in  Greece,  or  some  new 
Louis  Napoleon,  as  in  Mexico,  would  have  ap- 
peared, and  under  the  mild  term  of  intervention, 
would  have  seized  the  liberties  of  a  people,  who 
had  shown  themselves  unworthy  to  possess  and 
incompetent  to  maintain  them,  and  who  would  be 
glad  to  accept  even  despotism,  if  it  brought  peace. 
In  all  the  glorious  past,  there  is  nothing  more 
glorious,  no  more  distinct  token  of  a  benignant 
purpose,  on  the  part  of  the  Almighty  Providence, 
in  regard  to  the  interests  of  liberty  and  humanity 
in  our  land,  than  the  clear  triumph  of  the  Gov- 
ernment in  our  late  civil  war.  That  triumph,  with 
all  its  accompaniments,  has  brought  us  to  a  grand 
position  before  the  world  and  among  ourselves.  It 
has  shown  us  the  power  of  a  free  people  when 
true,  and  determined  to  be  true,  at  any  cost  of 
sacrifice  and  effort,  to  great  ideas  and  principles. 
It   has   preserved   the   Union,  whose    destruction  was 


•  OBATION.  39 

attempted,  and  made  it  more  stable  than  it  was 
before.  It  has  abolished  slavery,  and  so  withdrawn 
the  only  element  that  stood  in  the  way  of  a  living 
unity  and  a  hearty  nationality  among  the  whole 
people.  It  has  wiped  out  the  one  dark  spot  upon 
our  escutcheon,  the  one  terrible  inconsistency,  which 
alone  had  been  our  shame  at  home,  and  our  re- 
proach abroad.  It  has  amended  and  improved  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  which,  worthy  of 
our  support  before,  may  now  claim  the  unqualified 
allegiance,  the  devoted  loyalty  of  our  hearts  and 
lives,  and  challenge  the  admiration  of  the  world. 
It  has  shown  liberty  to  be  a  grand  and  glorious 
thing,  a  principle  and  a  power,  which  we  may 
well  wish  to  have  prevail  more  and  more  among 
the    nations. 

But  our  national  position,  though  grand  and  glo- 
rious, is  not  without  difficulties  and  troubles,  that 
awaken  anxiety,  and  demand  the  exercise  of  a 
large    political    wisdom. 

War  always  leaves,  peace  always  opens  many 
questions  that  are  to  be  settled,  not  by  force,  but 
by  reason  and  judgment,  by  mutual  forbearance  and 
a  mutual  desire  to  do  that  which  is  right  and  best. 
The  agitation  of  the  waves  never  ceases  the  moment 
the  storm  subsides.     And  yet  with  us  there  has  been 


40  JULY  4,   1866. 

far  less  agitation  than  might  have  been  expected. 
It  is  but  fifteen  months  since  the  war  ceased,  yet 
never  before,  I  apprehend,  did  any  nation  at  the 
close  of  so  brief  a  period,  after  so  gigantic  a  con- 
flict, find  itself  in  so  good  condition  as  this  nation 
finds  itself  to-day.  There  have  been  no  wide  com- 
mercial embarrassments,  no  great  financial  crises, 
nothing  to  bewilder,  disturb  or  arrest  the  industry 
or  enterprise  of  the  country ;  but  these,  with  all  the 
capital  they  can  command,  are  putting  themselves 
forth  in  various  ways  to  repair  the  waste  which  war 
has  caused  :  and  under  their  influence  many  ques- 
tions will  settle  themselves,  or  rather  be  settled  by 
the  force  of  laws,  which  passion,  prejudice  and 
unwise  legislation  may  do  something  to  thwart,  but 
cannot   utterly   annul. 

The  Southern  people  may  say,  as  the  newspapers 
tell  us  they  do  say,  that  they  will  not  sell  their  land 
to  the  Yankees  ;  that  they  will  not  encourage  the 
emigration  of  Northern  men  and  Northern  capital. 
It  is  very  natural  that  they  should  say  this,  but 
they  cannot  "  fight  it  out  on  this  line."  Some  will 
try  undoubtedly,  (it  would  be  surprising  if  they  did 
not,)  but  whenever  it  comes  to  a  clear  question 
between    passion    and    prejudice    on    the    one    hand, 


OBATION.  41 

and  interest  and  progressive  wealth  on  the  other, 
interest  and  progressive  wealth  will  carry  the  day. 

They  will  not  sell  their  land  to  the  Yankees ; 
but  the  lands  are  there,  untilled  and  unoccupied, 
with  streams,  timber,  mines,  waiting  for  labor, 
enterprise  and  capital  to  unfold  their  resources 
and  make  them  productive.  And  these,  the  incu- 
bus of  slavery  being  removed,  will  flock  in  and 
find  opportunities,  will  receive  a  welcome,  and 
produce  more  and  more  their  inevitable  results, 
and  a  new  order  of  things  will  spring  up,  and 
before  she  knows  it,  free  Virginia,  in  wealth,  in 
population,  in  exports,  may  regain  that  precedence 
of  New  York  which  she  held  in  the  old  colonial 
times;  and  many  of  the  Southern  States,  now  poor 
and  exhausted,  may  hereafter,  in  wealth,  in  intelli- 
gence, in  intellectual  and  moral  power,  in  all  that 
adorns  and  elevates  a  community,  rival  many  of  their 
Northern  sisters,  and  none  will  glory  in  that  rivalry 
more  than  these  sisters  themselves. 

Undoubtedly,  as  we  leam  through  the  newspa- 
pers, from  private  letters  and  various  other  sources, 
many  things  are  said  and  done  at  public  meetings, 
at  private  gatherings  and  in  all  manner  of  ways 
at    the    South,     which     indicate    that    there    is     still 

4* 


42  JULY  4,   1866. 

a  large  measure  of  disloyalty  there ;  a  determi- 
nation on  the  part  of  many  to  cherish  feelings 
of  hatred  and  and  dislike  toward  the  Union  and  the 
North;  to  oppose  any  improvement  in  the  condition 
of  the  negro,  and  keep  him  as  far  as  possible  in  the 
condition  of  serfdom;  and,  in  general,  in  all  possible 
ways  to  fan  the  embers  of  disloyalty,  sedition,  and 
treason,  in  the  hope  that  they  may  be  kept  alive 
and  made  to  blaze  out  again  in  destructive  fury. 
This  ought  not  to  surprise  or  disturb.  It  was  to  be 
expected ;  and  when  we  consider  how  absolutely 
their  hopes  have  been  disappointed,  their  plans  frus- 
trated, and  their  great  enterprise,  upon  which  they 
entered  with  such  boastful  confidence,  brought  to  a 
miserable  failure,  we  ought  not  to  expect  that  there 
should  be  at  once  a  universal  and  cheerful  acqui- 
escence in  such  untoward  results ;  but  we  in  our 
grand  triumph  should  certainly  be  willing  to  exer- 
cise a  large  and  patient  forbearance  toward  the  irri- 
tations of  disappointment. 

Two  things  which  are  of  essential  importance 
are  fixed  forever.  Slavery  is  abolished.  The  negroes 
are  free,  and  though  not  invested,  as  many  other 
persons  are  not,  with  what  may  be  called  some 
of  the  privileges  of  citizenship,  yet  through  that 
grand     enactment,      the     Civil     Rights     Bill,     they 


ORATION.  43 

are  protected  and  secured  in  all  their  essen- 
tial rights  as  free  men:  and  the  enjoyment 
and  possession  of  these  rights  will  bring  such 
a  sense  of  manhood  and  such  desire  and  oppor- 
tunity to  improve,  that  if  they  remain  anywhere 
long  or  largely  in  actual  serfdom,  the  fault 
will  be  chiefly  their  own.  If  we  will  but  refrain 
from  returning  railing  for  railing,  we  may  safely 
leave  it  to  time,  and  to  other  combining  and  con- 
spiring influences  to  remove  the  irritations  of  dis- 
appointment, to  extinguish  the  scattered  embers  of 
disloyalty,  and,  through  a  better  knowledge  and  a 
better  intercourse  between  them,  bring  the  people 
of  the  North  and  South  to  such  mutual  respect  and 
confidence  as  shall  bind  them  in  strong  attachment 
to  each  other,  and  to  the  Union  that  makes  them 
one    people. 

Undoubtedly,  there  are  many  questions  in  regard 
to  reconstruction,  and  readmission  to  political  rights, 
and  the  extent  to  which  deprivation  of  these  rights, 
or  other  punishment  shall  be  inflicted  upon  rebels, 
that  still  remain  to  be  determined,  and  the  determi- 
nation of  which,  amid  the  different  opinions  that  are 
expressed,  excites  painful  anxiety  in  many  minds. 
The  difficulties,  originally  inherent  in  this  subject, 
have    been    somewhat   enhanced    by    that    sad    event, 


44  JULY  i,   18  66. 

which    raised    to   the    Presidency   of    the   nation   one 
elected   to  be  its  Vice-President. 

Our  experience,  fortunately  not  frequent,  teaches 
that  it  is  a  great  misfortune  to  the  nation  to  have, 
and  a  terribly  trying  position  to  the  individual  to 
be,  what  has  been,  improperly  yet  expressively, 
termed  "  an  accidental  President  of  the  United 
States."  According  to  the  ordinary  custom  and 
course  of  political  affairs  among  us,  the  person  put 
into  the  Vice-Presidency  has  commonly  little  more 
of  political  distinction  or  office  to  expect.  He  is 
not  so  much  in  the  line  of  succession  or  advance- 
ment, as  prominent  members  of  the  Cabinet,  the 
Senate,  or  the  House  of  Representatives.  As  Vice- 
President,  his  powers,  position  and  prospects  are 
limited;  and  if,  through  the  death  of  the  President, 
he  is  suddenly  intrusted  with  "  the  powers  and 
duties  of  the  said  office,"  it  is  perhaps  too  much 
to  expect,  that  he  should  be  so  much  larger  than 
the  office,  so  much  stronger  and  superior  to  the 
circumstances,  as  to  be  able  to  meet  the  position 
naturally  and  simply,  without  thought  of  self,  and 
with  no  considerations  other  than  those  of  the 
public  good  to   influence   his    action  and  policy. 

On   being    thus    called    to    this    position,   the    first 
strong  feeling  or  consciousness  of  the  individual  must 


OBATION.  45 

be,  that  he  was  not  elected  to  it  by  the  suffrage  of 
the  people,  that  it  was  not  expected  that  he  would 
have  to  fill  it,  that  there  is  perhaps  a  general 
feeling  of  regret  that  he  has  been  summoned  to  it ; 
and  this  is  naturally  followed  by  some  questioning 
as  to  how  far  the  sympathy  and  confidence  of  the 
party  that  elected  him  will  gather  to  his  support ; 
while  immediately  there  are  indications  more  or  less 
distinct,  —  and  sometimes  very  distinct,  —  that  the 
opposite  party  regard  him  with  more  sympathy  and 
confidence  than  they  did  his  predecessor,  and  far 
more  than  they  ever  expressed  for  himself  previ- 
ously, and  stand,  waiting  and  anticipating,  ready  to 
welcome  any  such  changes  of  policy  as  will  enable 
them  to  give  him  their  party  indorsement.  The 
next  step,  in  the  succession  of  emotions,  is  the  feel- 
ing that  it  does  not  become  his  dignity,  or  his 
talents,  or  the  great  powers  and  interests  intrusted 
to  him,  to  be  the  mere  heir-at-law,  as  it  were, 
simply  the  executor  of  his  predecessor's  policy  and 
plans ;  and  so  he  begins  to  diverge  from  these, 
and  diverges  more  and  more,  till  at  length,  the 
divergence  from  the  principles  and  policy  of  the 
friends,  who  elected  him  to  the  Vice-Presidency, 
becomes  so  great,  that  there  is  nothing  left  for  him 


46  JULY  4,    1866. 

but    an    attempt    to    have    a    policy    and   a   party   of 
his    own. 

I  can  conceive  of  no  position  in  any  govern- 
ment, certainly  there  can  be  none  in  our  own, 
attended  with  so  much  personal  discomfort,  so 
full  of  trial,  temptation  and  difficulty  as  that  of  a 
President,  inducted  into  his  high  trusts  and  duties, 
by  such  an  event  as  brought  the  present  incumbent 
to  the  chair  of  state.  The  very  difficulties  of  his 
position  give  him  a  peculiar  claim  to  all  that  chari- 
table and  forbearing  judgment,  which  we  are  con- 
tinually called  upon  to  exercise  toward  all  men  in 
public  and  political  life.  Such  judgment  we  should 
endeavor  to  exercise  toward  him,  though  we  may  not 
be  able  to  approve  or  indorse  all  his  acts,  or 
disposed  to  relinquish  our  adherence  to  those  prin- 
ciples of  policy,  which  we  conceive  to  be  of  essential 
importance  in  the  present  exigencies  of  the  country. 

This  policy  and  all  the  matters  connected  with 
reconstruction  belong,  I  suppose,  upon  the  theory  of 
our  Government,  specially,  if  not  exclusively,  to  its 
legislative  rather  than  its  executive  department ; 
and  we  may  confidently  hope,  I  think,  that  the 
policy  of  Congress,  if  it  need  modification,  will  be 
so    modified,    will    be    made    so   just    and    wise    and 


OBATION.  47 

generous  as  to  secure  the  confirmation  of  the  Pre 
sident,  and  be  approved  and  upheld  by  the  people. 
The  only  desire,  which  any  thoughtful,  dispassionate 
person  can  have,  in  regard  to  all  the  points  involved 
in  the  question  of  reconstruction,  is  that  they 
should  be  so  settled  as  to  promote  the  safety  of 
the  country,  prevent  the  initiation  of  any  future 
rebellion,  and  efface,  as  far  and  as  fast  as  possible, 
all  traces  and  all  sources  of  sectional  strife  and  dis- 
cord. No  man  can  desire  that  anything  should  be 
done,  that  any  deprivation  should  be  prolonged  or 
any  punishment  inflicted,  in  the  mere  spirit  of  vin- 
dictiveness. 

In  all  cases  of  this  kind  there  are  two  points, 
two  extremes,  to  be  avoided:  undue  lenity  on  the 
one  hand,  undue  severity  on  the  other.  The  lesson 
of  history  teaches  that  the  mistake,  which  all  rulers 
are  apt  to  make,  is  that  «of  undue  severity.  We, 
I  apprehend,  are  in  no  danger  of  error  in  this 
direction.  We  are  the  most  good-natured  peo- 
ple in  the  world;  it  is  one  of  our  great  faults 
that  we  immediately  feel  a  strong  sympathy  for  the 
criminal,  a  tender  compassion  for  the  wrong-doer, 
the  moment  he  gets  within  the  grip  and  grasp  of 
the   law.     The  fact   that   fifteen   months   have   passed 


48  JULY  4,    1866. 

since  the  close  of  a  rebellion,  which,  all  things  con- 
sidered, must  be  regarded  as  the  most  gigantic  polit- 
ical crime  on  record,  and  yet  no  one  has  been  tried, 
convicted  or  punished,  is  pretty  conclusive  testimony, 
that  there  is  nowhere  any  spirit  of  vindictiveness  or 
cruelty,  on  the  part  of  the  people  or  their  rulers. 
Multitudes  have  been  pardoned,  but  no  one  has 
been   punished. 

The  great  military  chief  of  the  rebellion,  —  a 
man  whom  the  United  States  Government  had  edu- 
cated, supported,  honored  and  trusted,  whose  antece- 
dents and  position  gave  that  government  the  strongest 
claims  to  his  unswerving  allegiance,  and  whom  history 
will  hold  largely  responsible  for  all  the  barbarous 
cruelties  inflicted  upon  Federal  prisoners,  —  this  man 
is,  and  has  been  for  some  months,  quietly  acting  as 
the  President  of  a  college;  has  been  permitted,  as 
a  paroled  prisoner  of  -war,  to  take  charge  of 
the  education,  the  formation  of  the  characters  of 
the  young  men  of  the  nation!  I  may  challenge 
the  records  of  all  the  civil  wars  of  the  world,  to 
present  a  parallel  to  such  leniency,  to  adduce  an 
instance  in  which  the  great  military  commander  of 
an  organized  rebellion,  of  four  years'  duration,  was 
permitted,    without    trial    or    punishment   thereon,    to 


ORATION.  49 

glide  quietly  into  a  position  of  such  trust,  honor  and 
responsibility,  as  that  of  the  head  of  a  literary  and 
educational   institution. 

I  have  no  desire  that  any  one  should  suffer  the 
extreme  penalty,  which  under  the  law  attaches  to  the 
crime  of  treason ;  but  for  its  moral  influence  upon 
the  country  and  the  world,  it  does  seem  to  me  of 
the  highest  importance,  that  through  the  indictment 
of  some  one,  a  crime  so  great  as  this  rebellion  should 
be  brought  to  solemn  and  unsparing  legal  investiga- 
tion, and  that  there  should  be,  on  the  records  of  the 
highest  tribunal  of  the  country,  a  verdict  of  guilty  and 
a  sentence  of  condemnation.  That  verdict  reached, 
that  condemnation  declared,  I  care  not  then  what 
clemency  the  government  may  exercise.  God  for- 
bid that  we  should  thirst  for  any  man's  blood ! 

Everything  points  to  the  late  President  of  the  Con-, 
federacy,  so  called,  as  the  individual  against  whom 
these  grave  legal  proceedings  should  be  instituted. 
Moreover,  this  man  stands  before  the  country  charged 
by  the  present  President  of  the  United  States,  in 
a  solemn  proclamation  issued  under  the  seal  of 
State,  with  complicity  in  that  foul  conspiracy  which 
accomplished  the  assassination  of  his  predecessor, 
and  attempted  that  of  other  important  members  of 
the     United     States     Government.       One    would     not 


50  JULY  4,   1866. 

have  that  arch-traitor,  the  head  of  the  rebel  .Con- 
federacy, treated  with  personal  injustice.  Personal 
and  national  honor  alike  forbid  the  President  of  the 
United  States  to  keep  the  grounds,  upon  which  this 
grave  charge  was  made,  much  longer  among  the 
secrets  of  the  executive  archives.  The  charge 
should  either  be  withdrawn,  or  brought  to  legal 
investigation,  or  the  facts  upon  which  it  was  made 
should  be  published  to  the  world,  that  the  world 
may   pass   its   moral   verdict   thereon. 

Some  measure,  some  limited,  temporary  measure 
of  political  deprivation  of  political  rights,  as  a  po- 
litical punishment  for  a  political  crime,  would  seem 
to  be  deserved  by  the  rebels,  and  imperiously  de- 
manded b)   the  safety  and  honor  of  the  country. 

I  am  not  statesman  enough,  and  certainly  not 
enough  of  a  politician,  to  understand  the  nice  dis- 
tinctions that  have  been  made  between  "  re-construc- 
tion "  and  "  restoration,"  between  rebel  States  being 
"  in  "  or  "  out "  of  the  Union ;  nor  have  I  been  able 
to  get  at  the  idea,  under  a  government  like  ours, 
of  a  State  as  an  entity,  independent  of  the  people 
who  compose  it.  Through  some  mental  or  moral 
defect,  it  may  be,  I  have  only  been  able  to  reach 
to  this  general  idea,  which  I  supposed  was  an 
axiom   of  all   civil   polity;    namely,   that    armed    and 


OBATION.  51 

organized  rebellion  put  everything  at  .hazard.  If  it 
succeed  it  gains  all ;  if  it  fail  it  loses  all  —  all 
that  it  had,  all  that  it  sought ;  and  its  vanquished 
instigators  are  at  the  discretionary  disposal  of  the 
government  that  subdues  them,  have  no  rights  but 
to  be  treated  in  such  way  as  mercy,  wisdom,  judg- 
ment, humanity  may  dictate,  and  the  best  interests 
of  the  nation,  whose  life  they  have  imperilled,  and 
whose   peace   they   have    outraged,   may   demand. 

If  this  be  not  an  axiom  in  civil  polity,  a  principle 
inherent  in  all  civil  government,  I  see  not  how  there 
can  be  any  security  against  frequent  rebellions  or 
insurrections.  If  our  fathers  had  failed  in  their  great 
revolutionary  struggle,  and  had  at  length  said,  "  We 
submit,  we  withdraw  and  annul  our  Declaration  of 
Independence,  we  admit  your  right  to  tax  us  without 
representation,  but  we  claim  our  old  colonial  charters 
and  all  the  rights  secured  to  us  by  those  charters," 
Great  Britain  would  probably  have  laughed  at  the 
idea,  declined  the  proposal,  and  made  answer,  "  Your 
colonial  charters :  you  broke,  violated,  forfeited  these, 
when  you  undertook  to  rebel  and  be  independent. 
You  have  no  claim  now,  even  to  your  old  colonial 
rights,  and  we  do  not  think  it  is  safe  to  trust  you 
with  them  at  present;  we  do  not  wish  to  encourage 
another  rebellion  among  you.     When  your  loyalty  is 


52  JULY  i,    1866. 

clearly  re-established,  when  it  is  evident  that  you  are 
and  mean  to  be  good-  citizens  and  subjects,  we  will 
restore  your  charters  and  all  your  colonial  privileges, 
but  not  till  we  are  satisfied  on  this  point."  This, 
which  Great  Britain  might  have  said  to  our  fathers, 
which  any  government,  from  principles  inherent  in  all 
governments,  may  say  to  vanquished  rebels,  our  own 
government  has  a  right  to  say  to  the  people  and 
States    lately   in   rebellion    against   it. 

This  right  must  be  admitted,  or  we  must  admit, 
that  the  war,  on  the  part  of  the  government, 
was  wrong  from  the  beginning;  and  this  position 
leads,  by  a  swift  and  irresistible  logic,  to  the  anni- 
hilation of  the  Federal  Government,  and  the  intro- 
duction of  anarchy  into  the  country.  That  something 
of  this  sort  may  and  must  be  said  is,  I  believe, 
admitted  by  all,  except  perhaps  the  rebels  them- 
selves. In  fact,  something  of  this  character  has 
already  been  said,  and  what  more  is  necessary 
will  be  said ;  a  just  measure  of  individual  and 
temporary  deprivation  of  political  right  will  be 
awarded,  and  the  Executive,  the  Congress  and  the 
People  will  uphold  it,  and  the  world  will  commend 
it  as  just  and  wise  and  right:  and  under  its  influence 
the  country  will  work  its  way  out  of  these  present 
difficulties,    and    enter    upon    that    career    of    glory 


OBATION.  53 

which  is  before  her,  —  a  career  so  grand,  that  imag- 
ination fails  and  falters  in  attempting  to  form  an 
adequate  conception  of  it. 

Never  had  any  other  people  a  future  before  them, 
making  such  demands  upon  their  energies,  their  ambi- 
tion, then  highest  aspirations.  No  thoughtful  and 
reflecting  mind,  baptized  into  the  spirit  of  faith  in  a 
divine  purpose  and  providence  guiding  the  educa- 
tion and  destinies  of  the  race,  can  refuse  to  cherish 
the  conviction,  certainly  the  hope,  darkened  it  may  be 
by  occasional  doubts,  but  never  sinking  into  despair, 
that  here,  in  this  country,  beneath  the  influence  of 
our  civil  and  religious  liberty,  our  social  institutions, 
and  the  grand  opportunity  offered  by  this  broad,  new 
continent,  there  is  to  be  a  development  of  humanity, 
a  progressive  social  life,  such  as  has  been  nowhere 
exhibited  in  the  world  before,  corresponding  in  its 
fruits  of  intelligence,  comfort,  happiness,  in  the  large- 
ness of  its  spirit  and  form,  its  beauty  and  power,  to 
the  largeness  of  the  scale,  on  which  nature  here  dis- 
plays itself  in  our  mountains,  lakes,  rivers  and  bound- 
less prairies.  In  every  mind,  that  has  ever  cherished 
it,  that  hope  must  be  stronger  and  brighter  to-day 
than  it  ever  was  before. 

Oar  material  prosperity  is  all  but  inevitable.     Situ- 
ated  in    the    temperate    zone,    an    immense    territory, 


54  JULY  4,    18  66. 

stretching  from  north  to  south  more  than  two  thou- 
sand miles,  and  from  east  to  west  across  the  conti- 
nent, from  ocean  to  ocean,  with  a  wide  variety  of 
climate,  soil,  productions,  with  mineral  wealth  of 
every  kind  and  of  incalculable  amount,  with  a  net- 
work of  rivers,  navigable  and  fertilizing,  spread  over 
that  wonderful  Mississippi  basin,  whose  annual  har- 
vest might  almost  feed  the  race,  our  country  has  such 
material  resources,  is  such  a  miniature  world  in  itself, 
that  nothing  but  the  most  reckless  obstinacy  and  per- 
severing folly  can  prevent  its  material  growth  and 
prosperity. 

Its  very  condition  at  this  moment,  as  it  emerges 
from  a  costly  civil  war,  carrying,  as  if  it  were  a 
feather's  weight,  an  amount  of  debt  which  would 
crush  many  other  nations,  is  at  once  a  testimony 
to  its  recuperative  energies,  and  a  prophecy  of  its 
future  progress.  Everywhere  there  is  hope,  cheer- 
fulness, enterprise,  and  revelations,  more  and  more 
distinct,  of  the  exhaustless  resources  and  the  mighty 
productive  power  of  the  nation.  Soon  a  ship  canal 
in  our  own  territory  will  leave  Niagara  still  a  thing 
of  beauty  and  grandeur,  but  no  longer  an  obstacle, 
and  put  our  navigation  of  the  great  lakes  in  a  con- 
dition not  to  be  easily  disturbed.  Some,  who  hear 
me,  will  live  to   see  the   completion  of  that  gigantic 


OBATION.  55 

project,  a  railroad  across  this  continent.  In  its 
domestic  uses  and  benefits,  the  effect  of  this  upon 
our  internal  development  and  progress  cannot  be 
over-estimated ;  while  as  a  connecting  link,  a  short 
direct  route  between  Western  Europe  and  Eastern 
Asia,  it  will,  in  all  probability,  become  a  great  high- 
way of  traffic  and  travel  between  these  two  great 
centres  of  Christian  and  heathen  civilization.  Should 
this  be  the  result,  it  will  so  materially  change  the 
relations  between  them,  that  the  commercial  index 
on  the  dial-plate  of  time  will  point  pretty  distinctly 
to  an  hour,  when  the  metropolitan  city  of  our  own 
country  will  take  precedence  of  London,  as  the  mon- 
eyed and  commercial  centre  of  the  world. 

But  there  is  something  much  more  important  to  a 
nation  than  its  material  wealth  and  grandeur.  These 
can  only  secure  it  a  short-lived  existence ;  they  will 
be  but  sure  precursors  of  its  ruin,  unless  accompanied 
by  a  moral  development,  an  intellectual  culture  and 
strength,  that  shall  enable  the  people  to  resist  their 
temptations,  and  use  prosperity  and  power  for  high 
and  noble  purposes.  Intellectual  and  moral  culture  go 
together ;  they  cannot  be  widely  separated ;  the  for- 
mer necessarily  carries  with  it  a  large  amount  of  the 
latter ;  and  the  intellectual  and  moral  culture  of  the 
people    of   this    country    must   be   regarded   by    every 


56  JULY  4,    1866. 

patriotic  mind  as  the  first  thing  to  be  secured  and 
the  last  to  be  neglected :  worthy  of  every  effort  and 
sacrifice,  of  the  most  patient  labors,  and  of  the  most 
costly  contributions  we  can  make  to  it. 

This  culture  must  be  universal  and  progressive  for 
these  are  the  conditions  of  our  liberty.  It  must  reach 
to  the  highest,  that  it  may  be  their  inspiration  and 
glory.  It  must  reach  to  the  lowest,  that  it  may  be  their 
resource,  their  defence,  their  incentive ;  add  to  their 
dignity,  enlarge  their  honor,  and  guide  their  power. 
Two  ideas,  the  one  narrow  and  the  other  false,  which 
have  been  recently  advocated  with  more  ability  than 
they  deserve,  must  find  no  acceptance  among  us. 
"We  are  educating  too- much,"  it  is  said:  "reading, 
writing,  arithmetic,  the  simplest  rudiments  of  knowl- 
edge, are  all  that  is  necessary  for  the  mass  of  the 
people.  More  only  unfits  them  for  their  position  and 
their  duties."  The  mass  of  the  people !  Who  shall 
dare  thus  to  separate  himself  from  the  mass  of  the 
people,  and  maintain  that  the  education,  which  is 
necessary  and  good  for  him,  is  not  good  for  all  to 
whom  it  can  be  offered'?  This  mass  is  perpetually 
shifting  its  particles ;  the  poor  of  to-day  are  the 
rich  of  to-morrow,  and  the  rich  of  to-day  the  poor  of 
to-morrow,  and  the  intellectual  and  moral  culture  that 
is  good  for  any  is  good  for  all.     Unfits  them  for  their 


OBATION.  57 

position  and  duties !  Is  there  any  position  in  which 
ignorance  is  better  than  knowledge?  or  whose  duties 
stupidity  can  better  discharge  than  intelligence?  Show 
me  one  person,  who  has  more  education  than  he  can 
use  to  advantage  in  his  position,  one  person,  who  has 
been  too  highly  educated  for  his  own  happiness, 
honor  and  usefulness,  or  for  the  good  of  the  com- 
munity; and  for  that  one  person,  I  will  bring  you 
an  army  of  an  hundred  thousand  persons,  whom  the 
same  education  has  made  happier,  nobler,  more  use- 
ful, lifted  them  up,  and  enabled  them  to  help  lift  up 
the  community  in  all  things  good,  worthy  and  desira- 
ble. Go  into  some  humble  dwelling  in  this  city, 
whose  support  is  the  daily  toil  of  the  father,  (it  may 
be  in  some  very  humble  occupation,)  and  you  will 
find  perhaps  that  the  oldest  daughter  is  attending 
our  Girls'  High  and  Normal  School.  Are  we  doing 
that  family  and  the  community  an  injury  by  giving 
that  daughter  so  good  an  education?  Are  we  doing 
her  an  injury  by  developing  her  mind  by  all  the 
knowledge  imparted,  and  her  heart  by  all  the  influ- 
ences that  surround  her  at  that  school?  I  maintain 
that  the  chances  are  ten  thousand  to  one,  that  this 
daughter  is  a  beam  of  moral  sunlight  in  that  dwell- 
ing,—  its    ornament,  —  its    defence,  —  its    incentive, — 


58  JULY  4,    1866. 

its  glory.  She  is  introducing  to  it,  it  may  be,  better 
principles  and  habits,  a  higher  tone  of  thought,  feel- 
ing and  conduct.  She  is  better  fitted  every  way  to 
discharge  the  duties  of  her  position,  to  meet  both 
the  temptations  and  the  opportunities  that  may  come 
to  her  in  life ;  and  should  she  ever  have  a  home  of 
her  own,  whether  it  be  humbler  or  higher  than  the 
one  she  now  fills,  she  will  make  it  a  home  of  intel- 
ligence and  virtue ;  and  the  more  such  daughters  in 
the  same  position  in  life  we  can  so  educate  the 
better,  the  safer  for  the  community. 

"  But  no,"  cries  the  advocate  of  the  false  idea, 
"intelligence  and  virtue  do  not  go  together;  education 
increases  the  ingenuity,  but  it  does  not  diminish  the 
amount  of  crime ;  and  the  records  of  the  courts  show 
that  many  persons  brought  into  them  as  criminals 
have  had  the  highest  advantages  of  education;"  and 
so,  because  Satan  was  once  an  angel  of  light,  the 
light  should  be  put  out  and  all  live  in  darkness ; 
for  that  is  the  amount  of  the  argument.  Because  the 
wise  are  sometimes  weak,  because  the  educated  are 
sometimes  criminal,  education  must  be  limited.  It 
is  a  false  argument,  for  the  failure  of  some  should 
never  forbid  the  effort  of  any  or  all.  As  a  general 
statement,   it   cannot   be    true    that    the    nearer   men 


ORATION.  59 

approach  to  their  Maker  in  one  of  his  attributes, 
knowledge,  the  farther  they  recede  from  him  in 
another,  goodness.  Education  is  an  incalculable  good; 
all  who  have  received  any  measure  of  its  benefits 
and  blessings,  feel  it  to  be  a  good.  It  is  the  power 
that  has  raised  man  from  ignorance  to  knowledge, 
from  barbarism  to  civilization,  and  carried  him  for- 
ward continually  to  a  more  advanced  civilization,  a 
more  glorious  social  condition;  and,  therefore,  the 
the  higher  we  carry  it,  the  more  we  extend  and 
diffuse  it,  the  better  for  our  country  and  the  world. 
We  at  least  in  this  country,  (to  use  the  expression 
I  have  used  once  before  this  morning,)  "  we  must 
fight  it  out  on  this  line."  We  cannot  go  back.  Our 
idea  is  that  of  freedom.  We  have  determined  that 
every  man  is  and  shall  be  free  in  this  land;  and 
freedom  has  no  security,  no  defence,  protection  or 
safeguard  but  education,  and  that  moral  power  and 
principle  which  education  brings ;  and  this  education, 
to  preserve  our  freedom  and  accomplish  our  purpose, 
must  be  broad,  generous,  universal  and  progressive, 
must  keep  pace  with  our  material  growth  and  pros- 
perity, so  that  the  nation  may  be  morally  as  strong, 
wise,  pure  and  noble,  as  it  is  great,  wealthy  and 
powerful. 


60  JULY  i,    1866. 

Friends  and  fellow-citizens,  let  me  relieve  your 
patience  by  saying  in  conclusion,  that  no  extent  of 
territory,  however  large ;  no  amount  of  material 
prosperity,  however  grand;  no  intellectual  and  moral 
culture  even,  however  advanced  and  widely  diffused, 
can  give  us  all  that  we  need  to  fulfil  the  great  mis- 
sion that  is  before  us.  These  things  are  necessary 
ingredients,  but  there  must  be  something  to  unite, 
to  bind  them  together.  They  are  incidental;  they 
may  make  a  country,  but  they  cannot  make  a  nation. 
What  is  necessary  to  make  a  nation,  and  that  nation 
powerful  and  permanent,  is  a  spirit  of  nationality, 
living  and  breathing  in  every  heart,  binding  all  to 
common  ideas,  principles  and  interests,  to  a  common 
purpose  and  destiny.  Thus  considered,  nationality  is 
as  glorious,  sublime  and  powerful  a  sentiment,  as  it 
is  sweet,  lovely  and  venerable.  We  of  all  people 
should  have  a  spirit  of  nationality:  the  grandeur  of 
our  country  as  it  came  from  the  hands  of  God  de- 
mands it ;  our  condition,  prospects,  privileges  and 
opportunities  demand  it.  Let  it  be  everywhere  cul- 
tivated and  cherished,  let  it  swell  and  breathe  in 
every  soul,  binding  all  these  millions  of  hearts,  from 
the  waters  of  yonder  bay  to  the  city  of  the  Golden 
Gate,   into   one   great   national   heart,   that   shall   live 


ORATION.  61 

and  throb  with  love  and  loyalty  to  all  that  our  flag 
symbolizes,  to  all  that  the  Constitution  secures,  to  all 
that  liberty  means,  to  all  that  humanity  desires  and 
would  achieve,  then  this  Great  Republic,  which,  but 
yesterday,  the  despots  of  Europe  thought  was  crum- 
bling to  pieces,  shall  rise  again  like  a  giant  to  in- 
struct,   overshadow    and   outlast   them   all. 


APPENDIX 


CELEBRATION 


FOURTH   OF  JULY,   1866 


By  an  order  of  the  City  Council,  approved  May  1st,  1866, 
the  following  gentlemen  were  appointed  a  Committee  to  make 
suitable  arrangements  for  the  Celebration  of  the  Ninetieth  Anni- 
versary of  the  Declaration  of  American  Independence :  Alder- 
men Thomas  G-affield,  Chairman,  George  W.  Messinger, 
Edward  F.  Porter,  Samuel  D.  Crane,  Benjamin  James, 
Jonas  Fitch,  Charles  W.  Slack;  Councilmen  Joseph  Story, 
President,  William  J.  Ellis,  John  Miller,  Elam  W. 
Hale,  Granville  Mears,  James  J.  Flynn,  Jarvis  D.  Bra- 
man,  Christopher  A.  Connor,  George  P.  Darrow,  John 
C.  Haynes,  Charles  Caverly,  Jr.,  Hubbard  W.  Tilton, 
George  P.  French.  His  Honor,  Mayor  Lincoln,  was  invited 
to  consult  with  the  Committee,  and  to  preside  on  all  public 
occasions  connected  with  the  celebration. 

Under  the  direction  of  this  Committee  a  programme  was 
arranged  and  carried  out  which  gave  general  satisfaction.  The 
day  was  ushered  in  by  the  ringing  of  bells,  and  the  firing  of 
national  salutes  from  the  Common  and  Mount  Washington  by 
detachments  of  the  Second  Battery,  M.  V.  M.,  Captain  C.  W. 
Baxter.  The  public  buildings  were  decorated  by  Messrs.  Lam- 
prell  &  Marble,  and  flags  were  displayed  at  all  prominent 
points. 


66  JULY  4,   1866. 

At  6£  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  firemen  assembled  in  Charles 
Street,  with  their  steam  engines,  hose,  and  hook  and  ladder  car- 
riages, and  formed  a  procession  with  the  right  resting  on  Bea- 
con Street.  The  procession  was  marshalled  by  Mr.  G.  H. 
Allen,  Secretary  of  Board  of  Engineers,  and  at  seven  o'clock 
was  put  in  motion  over  the  following  route :  Beacon  to  Arling- 
ton Street,  down  Commonwealth  Avenue  to  Berkley  Street, 
countermarching  in  Commonwealth  Avenue  to  Arlington  Street, 
thence  through  Boylston,  Pleasant,  and  Tremont  Streets,  Union 
Park,  Washington,  Boylston,  Tremont,  Court,  Greene,  Leverett, 
Spring,  Allen,  Blossom,  Cambridge,  to  Charles  Street.  The 
men  were  uniformly  dressed,  and  their  fine  appearance  called 
forth  the  applause  of  the  people,  who  lined  the  sidewalks  along 
the  route  over  which  they  passed. 

Under  the  direction  of  Mr.  P.  S.  Gilmore  a  concert  was 
given  at  8£  o'clock,  on  the  Common,  by  one  hundred  musicians. 

The  following  programme  was  performed : 

1  —  American  Hymn,  Modern  Composition.  Keller. 

2  —  Concert  Polka,  "  Golden  Eobin."  Bosquet. 

3  —  Overture,  "  Allesandro  Stradella."  Flotow. 

4 —  Union  Kailroad  Galop,  with  imitations.  Downing. 

5 —  Grand  Selections  from  "  Martha."  Flotow. 

6 —  Continental  Melange,  "  Sounds  from  Europe."  Jullien. 

Musical  and  other  entertainments,  chiefly  for  the  Children  of 
the  Public  Schools,  were  provided  at  the  Boston  Theatre,  Music 
Hall  and  Tremont  Temple,  under  the  management  of  a  Com- 
mittee of  the  Warren  Street  Chapel,  subject  to  the  direction  of 
the  City  Committee. 

At  the  Music  Hall,  performances  were  given  on  the  Great 
Organ  by  Mr.  G.  E.  Whiting,  and  vocal  and  instrumental  music 
was  furnished  by  the  Alleghanians  and  Swiss  Bell  Ringers.  At 
Tremont  Temple  there  were  five  exhibitions  of  Natural  Magic, 
Legerdemain,  Ventriloquism,  and  Punch  and  Judy,  by  Professor 


CELEBRATION.  67 

Bryant.     At  the  Boston  Theatre    facilities  were   afforded  for 
dancing  and  promenading. 

At  9£  o'clock  a  procession,  composed  of  members  of  the  City- 
Government  and  invited  guests,  was  formed  at  the  City  Hall, 
under  the  direction  of  Col.  John  Kurtz,  Chief  Marshal.  The 
procession  was  escorted  by  a  battalion  of  boys  from  the  Latin 
and  English  High  Schools,  under  the  command  of  Col.  Thorn- 
dike  Nourse,  through  the  following  streets:  School,  Beacon, 
Arlington,  Boylston,  Tremont,  and  Winter  streets,  to  the 
entrance  to  Music  Hall.  The  order  of  exercises  at  the  Music 
Hall  was  as  follows  : 

1 — Music  by  the  Orchestra. 

2 — National  Hymn  —  "  Hail  Columbia  "  —  Organand  Orchestra.  [Sung 
by  four  hundred  children  of  the  Public  Schools.] 

3 — Prayer  by  Rev.  Henry  M.  Dexter. 

4 — National  Songs  —  Arranged  by  Carl  Zerrahn. 

5 — Reading  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  by  John  D.  Philbrick, 
Esq.,  Superintendent  Public  Schools. 

6 — Keller's  "American  Hymn,"  —  Organ  and  Orchestra. 

7 — Oration,  by  Rev.  Samuel  K.  Lothrop,  D.D. 

8 — Original  Hymn,  by  Rev.  D.  A.  Wasson. 

Hail  to  the  day  whose  happy  morn 
Breaks  into  joy  of  hopes  new  born ! 
While  .earth  in  triumph  greets  the  sky, 
Till  heaven  to  earth  peal  glad  reply. 

Hail  to  the  land  whose  millions  all 

With  Freedom's  cause  will  stand  or  fall ! 

Again  to-day  their  oath  is  given : 

"  Man's  right  on  earth,  his  King  in  heaven !  " 

Hail  to  the  heroes  who  bore  down 
The  proud  that  stole  from  heaven  its  crown, 
And  told  the  world  with  speaking  sword, 
"  Lo,  man  is  free,  and  God  is  Lord !  " 

Thou  who  art  Liberty  and  Law, 
Nigh  unto  us,  thy  children,  draw; 
Kindle  in  us  the  ancient  Ares, 
And  give  true  sons  to  noble  sires. 

7* 


68  JULY  i,   1866. 

The  singing  was  performed  by  a  choir  selected  from  the 
pupils  of  the  Grammar  Schools,  under  the  direction  of  Carl 
Zerrahn. 

One  of  the  new  features  in  the  celebration  of  the  day  was  a 
sailing  regatta  in  the  harbor.  The  judges  were  Mr.  Daniel 
Briscoe,  Chairman,  Captain  Charles  Robbins,  Captain  Josiah  G. 
Lovell,  Captain  John  Greer,  and  Captain  Alfred  Nash. 

The  first  race  was  for  centre-board  and  keel  yachts  of  fifteen 
tons  and  upwards  (new  measurement).  Two  prizes  were  offered 
—  silver  pitchers  valued  at  $100  each — one  for  the  winning 
keel,  and  the  other  for  the  winning  centre-board  yacht.  The 
course  was  as  follows :  Down  Broad  Sound,  leaving  Ram  Head 
Buoy  on  the  starboard,  and  Fawn  Bar  on  the  port ;  rounding  the 
Flag  Boat,  which  was  stationed  off  Nahant,  leaving  it  on  the 
starboard ;  returning  by  the  same  route  back,  passing  south  of 
the  Judges'  Boat.  The  distance  was  twenty-five  miles,  including 
six  miles  allowed  for  beating  home. 

The  yachts  which  participated  were  the  "Nettie,"  54.84  tons, 
schooner-rigged,  centre-board,  entered  and  commanded  by  Dex- 
ter H.  Follett;  the  "Edwin  Forest,"  36.16  tons,  schooner,  keel, 
by  Captain  John  Low ;  "  Surprise,"  32  tons,  schooner,  keel,  by 
Captain  Quinn;  the  "Alice,"  27.44  tons,  sloop,  keel,  owned  by 
T.  G.  Appleton,  but  sailed  by  A.  H.  Clark ;  and  the  "  Minnie," 
20.25  tons,  schooner,  keel,  by  B.  F.  Bibber.  The  "  Edwin  For- 
rest "  was  the  winner  of  the  first  prize.  Time,  2  hours  32  min- 
utes and  20  seconds.  The  prize  for  centre-board  was  won  by 
the  "  Nettie." 

The  second  race  was  for  centre-board  and  keel  yachts  of  five 
and  under  fifteen  tons  (new  measurement) ;  and  the  prizes  were 
two  medallion  pattern  silver  pitchers,  valued  at  $75  each  —  one 
for  the  winning  keel,  and  the  other  for  the  winning  centre-board 
yacht.     The  course  sailed  by  this  class  of  yachts  was  from  the 


CELEBBATION.  69 

judges'  boat  down  West  Way,  leaving  Thompson's  Island  on  the 
starboard,  Spe  ctacle  Island  on  the  port,  round  west  head  of  Long 
Island  to  the  Narrows,  leaving  Eainsford  Island  on  the  starboard, 
Fort  Warren  on  the  starboard,  Gallop's  Island  on  the  port, 
Lovell's  Island  on  the  starboard;  and  return,  leaving  Nicks' 
Mate  on  the  port,  passing  up  between  Sound  Point  Beacon  and 
east  end  of  Long  Island,  leaving  Fort  Independence  on  the  port, 
City  Point  on  the  starboard,  then  to  the  judges'  boat,  passing  it 
to  the  southward,  thus  making  a  distance  of  about  eighteen  miles, 
allowing  three  miles  made  in  beating. 

The  yachts  entered  for  this  race  came  to  moorings  in  the  fol- 
lowing order:  "Iris,"  11.52  tons,  sloop-rigged,  centre-board, 
entered  and  commanded  by  John  F.  Pray;  "Tartar,"  12.86 
tons,  sloop,  centre-board,  by  Charles  A.  Hayden ;  "  Columbia," 
12.95  tons,  sloop,  keel,  by  Augustus  Russ;  "Violet,"  11  tons, 
sloop,  centre-board,  by  Eben  Denton;  "Napoleon,"  8.09  tons, 
sloop,  centre-board,  by  T.  D.  Boardman ;  "  Osceola,"  7.04 
tons,  schooner,  keel,  by  L.  Shellhammer;  "Mercury,"  6.92  tons, 
schooner,  keel,  by  J.  E.  Herman;  "John  Quincy  Adams,"  5.91 
tons,  schooner,  keel,  by.  A.  Lothrop;  "Mist,"  5.80  tons,  sloop, 
keel,  by  Joshua  H.  Pitman;  "Scud,"  5.63  tons,  sloop,  centre- 
board, by  Charles  E.  Folsom;  "Dawn,"  6.37  tons,  schooner, 
keel,  by  Frank  A.  Bibber;  "Ranger,"  6  tons,  schooner,  keel,  by 
Elijah  Harris. 

On  the  outward  stretch  the  "  Tartar  "  had  her  mast  carried 
away,  and  was  obliged  to  withdraw.  The  "Iris  "  kept  the  lead, 
and  came  home  in  1  hour  9  minutes  and  40  seconds  after  she 
started.  The  "  Violet "  came  next,  1  minute  and  55  seconds 
behind  the  "  Iris ;  "  the  "  Scud  "  next,  3  minutes  and  34  seconds 
behind  the  "  Violet ;  "  and  the  "  Napoleon  "  next,  40  seconds  in 
the  rear  of  the  "  Scud."  Of  the  keel  boats,  the  "  Columbia" 
came  home  in  1  hour  23  minutes  26  seconds,  with  the  "John 
Quincy  Adams"  1  minute  55  seconds  behind.  The  "Mercury," 
"  Mist,"  and  "  Osceola "   brought   up   the   rear.     The   "  Scud  " 


70  JULY  i,   1866. 

was  declared  the  winning  centre-board  by  allowance  on  mea- 
surement, and  the  "John  Quincy  Adams"  was  declared  the 
winning  keel,  by  allowance  on  measurement. 

For  the  third  and  last  race  three  prizes  were  offered  —  the 
first  a  silver  pitcher,  valued  at  $60 ;  the  second  a  silver  goblet, 
valued  at  $40;  the  third  prize,  a  silver  goblet,  valued  at  $25. 
This  race  was  for  centre-board  and  keel  yachts,  measuring 
in  length  twenty  feet  and  upwards  from  stem  to  rudder 
post,  and  under  five  tons;  and  the  course  was  from  the 
judges'  boat  down  to  the  Red  Buoy  No.  6,  on  the  Lower  Middle, 
rounding  it  on  the  starboard,  thence  to  Spectacle  Island,  leaving 
it  on  the  port  to  Moon  Head,  leaving  it  on  the  starboard,  round- 
ing Flag  Boat,  stationed  in  Quincy  Bay,  leaving  it  on  the  star- 
board ;  returning,  leaving  Moon  Head  and  Thompson's  Island 
on  the  port,  passing  flag  boat,  on  a  line  and  south  of  the  judges' 
boat,  leaving  it  on  the  starboard,  thence  to  flag  boat,  stationed 
in  Old  Harbor,  leaving  it  on  the  starboard,  and  returning  pass- 
ing south  of  the  judges'  boat,  making  a  distance  of  about  ten 
miles.     Allowance  for  beating  the  same  as  in  the  second  race. 

The  yachts  entered  were  the  "Arion,"  21  feet  6  inches, 
schooner  rigged,  keel,  by  A.  P.  Ford;  the  "Echo,"  26  feet,  sloop, 
centre-board,  by  H.  F.  Barker;  the  "Marion,"  27  feet  5  inches, 
schooner,  keel,  by  Daniel  Robbins;  "Little  Nellie,"  22  feet, 
sloop,  keel,  by  N.  C.  Greenough ;  "  Ariel,"  20  feet,  schooner, 
keel,  by  John  M.  Downing;  "Ion,"  21  feet,  schooner,  keel,  by 
William  Snowdon;  "North  Star,"  20  feet,  schooner,  keel,  by 
Arthur  L.  Scott;  "Cora,"  25'  feet,  sloop,  keel,  by  Joseph  H. 
Blake;  "Minnehaha,"  20  feet,  schooner,  keel,  by  N.  Curtis; 
"  Parqueta,"  24  feet,  sloop,  keel,  by  W.  Burrows ;  "  Electra,"  26 
feet,  sloop,  keel,  by  J.  H.  Sears ;  "  Mary  Ellen,"  23  feet,  sloop, 
centre-board,  by  Androis  Lane;  "Mandy,"  21  feet,  sloop,  cen- 
tre-board, by  C.  Hill  of  Dorchester ;  "  Coquette,"  20  feet,  sloop, 
centre-board,  by  J.  B.  Kingman  of  Dorchester;  "Secret,"  22 
feet,  sloop,   centre-board,   by   J.   Brinney;   "Magic,"   25   feet, 


CELEBRATION.  71 

centre-board,  by  R.  M.  Pratt ;  and  "  Clitheroe,"  24  feet,  schooner, 
centre-board,  by  Benjamin  Dean. 

The  first  prize  was  awarded  to  the  "  Clitheroe,"  (centre- 
board,) the  second  prize  to  the  "Electra,"  (keel),  and  the  third 
to  the  "  Marion,"  (keel). 

The  rowing  regatta  took  place  on  Charles  River,  at  3£ 
o'clock,  P.  M.  The  judges  were  Messrs.  R.  F.  Clark,  H.  T. 
Rockwell,  E.  C.  Bates,  S.  A.  B.  Abbott,  P.  H.  Colbert,  H.  W. 
Foley,  D.  J.  Sweeney,  and  John  T.  Gardner. 

The  first  race  was  for  single  scull  wherries,  distance  two 
miles ;  first  prize,  $75 ;  second  prize,  $50.  The  following  are 
the  names  of  the  boats,  and  the  contestants,  in  the  order  of 
their  positions:  "Admiral  Farragut,"  J.  Driscoll,  of  Boston; 
"  George  Thatcher,"  Walter  Brown,  of  Portland ;  "  Experiment," 
George  Faulkner,  of  Boston ;  "  T.  F.  Doyle,"  P.  Foster,  of  Bos- 
ton ;  "  J.  D.  P.,"  F.  W.  Sargent,  of  Boston.  The  wherries  started 
at  23  minutes  and  45  seconds  after  3  o'clock.  The  "  Thatch- 
er "  took  the  lead  and  kept  ahead  throughout  the  race,  winning 
in  17  :  10.  The  "  Doyle  "  came  in  next,  having  turned  the  stake 
second,  and  won  the  second  prize  in  1 8  : 1 1  J.  The  "  Experi- 
ment" was  third,  in  19  :0£;  the  "Admiral"  fourth,  and  "J.  D. 
P."  last. 

The  second  race  was  for  double  scull  wherries,  distance  three 
miles;  first  prize  $100;  second  prize,  $50.  Four  boats  had 
been  entered,  although  but  two  appeared  at  the  start.  These 
were,  —  in  order  of  position,  —  the  "  John  A.  Andrew,"  rowed 
by  P.  J.  Brennan  and  M.  J.  McKee,  and  the  "  C.  B.  H.,"  by  Ed- 
ward Hollis  and  James  Sullivan.  The  "John  A.  Andrew" 
came  in  about  two  lengths  ahead,  in  27 :  49,  and  the  "  C.  B.  H." 
in  27:  57. 

The  third  race  was  for  four-oared  boats,  distance  three  miles  ; 
first  prize,  $125;  second  prize,  $50.     The  following  boats  and 


72  JULY  i,   1866. 

crews  appeared,  being  all  those  entered,  with  the  exception  of 
the  "  Union,"  of  Worcester.  They  occupied  positions  in  order 
of  naming:  "Volunteer,"  Jas.  Cleary  (stroke),  D.  H.  Brenen, 

E.  J.  Rodgers,  M.  J.  Gleason  (bow),  Boston ;  "  Frank  Quinn," 
Dennis  Leary  (stroke),  John  Blue,  Robert  Ellis,  Henry  Burden 
(bow),  New  York;  "Young  Neptune,"  Andrew  Gallagher 
(stroke),  James  Clarke,  John  McGrath,  Thomas  Gait  (bow),  St. 
John;  "Thetis,"  Edw.  Woodard  (stroke),  Edw.  McCawley, 
Geo.  Price,  Geo.  Nice  (bow),  St.  John,  N.  B. ;  "  Geo.  C.  Wig- 
gins," James  Thompson  (stroke),  Robert  Fulton,  Matthew 
McWiggin,  John  Morris  (bow),  St.  John ;  "  Union,"  L.  S.  King 
(stroke),  H.  F.  Lambert,  G.  H.  B.  Hill,  E.  B.  Robins  (bow), 
Boston.  The  "Thetis"  rounded  the  stake  first,  the  "Young 
Neptune  "  second,  followed  by  the  "  Frank  Quinn,"  "  Volunteer," 
"  George  C.  Wiggins,"  and  the  "  Union."  In  this  order  the 
boats  came  in,  the  "  Thetis  "  well  ahead  in  20 :  39 ;  "  Young 
Neptune,"  21:01;  "Frank  Quinn,"  23:1£;  "Volunteer," 
30 :1J. 

The  fourth  race  was  for  six-oared  boats,  distance  three  miles ; 
first  prize,  $150;  second  prize,  $75.  Four  entries  had  been 
made,  of  which  the  following  made  their  appearance  at  the 
start:  "Una,"  Walter  Brown  (stroke),  J.  F.  Webber,  R.  Wil- 
liams, A.  P.  Harris,  F.  H.  White,  H.  C.  Davis  (bow),  Portland, 
Me. ;  "  Piscataqua,"  Elias  A.  Staples  (stroke),  F.  A.  Staples,  F. 

F.  Staples,  Wm.  A.  Paul,  Alexander  Dixon,  J.  H.  Paul  (bow), 
Elliot,  Me.  The  stake  was  rounded  first  by  the  "  Una,"  which 
came  in  well  ahead  in  20 :41 ;  the  "Piscataqua"  making  21 :  16. 

A  very  large  number  of  people  assembled  on  the  parade 
ground  of  the  Common,  during  the  afternoon,  to  witness  Mr. 
Samuel  A.  King's  ascension  in  the  large  balloon  "  Queen  of  the 
Air."  When  the  balloon  was  only  partially  inflated  it  escaped 
from  the  nettings,  and  after  being  carried  some  distance  by  the 


CELEBBATION.  73 

wind  it  collapsed.  Mr.  King  immediately  procured  a  smaller 
balloon,  called  the  "  General  Grant/'  in  which  he  made  an 
ascension  at  seven  o'clock.  He  was  carried  with  great  rapidity 
over  Chelsea  and  Lynn,  and  in  half  an  hour  from  the  time  he 
started  succeeded  in  landing  at  Ipswich. 

During  the  evening  very  satisfactory  exhibitions  of  fireworks 
were  given  upon  the  Common,  and  at  East  and  South  Boston, 
by  Mr.  E.  L.  Sanderson. 


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